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May 14, 2012, 08:25:00 AM
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What's the difference between "Parental Alienation" and "Parental Alienation Syndrome"?
The difference between simple "Parental Alienation" and "Parental Alienation Syndrome" is mainly a matter of degree, completeness, and intensity.
The degree to which the alienation takes place is the level pervasiveness of the alienation, whether or not it is a constant in the child's life, occurring in most or many areas and times.
'Completeness' relates to there being enough of the recognized symptoms of PAS present to have met the criteria and be deemed as having the actual syndrome. (A syndrome is a cluster of symptoms some of which may or may not be present at the same time.
Some symptoms may not in fact not ever appear, yet the presence of enough of the other symptoms can be used to diagnose and qualify the syndrome.)
The intensity of the alienating behavior is also a factor; the more extreme it is, the more likely the alienation would be judged as being indicative of the actual syndrome rather than just simple alienation.