http://www.cincinnatipas.com/richardgardner-pas.html
Unless There Are Other Interests
Dr. Richard Gardner
Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS)
Debunked
Dr. Richard Gardner, M.D.
Born On April 28, 1931
Committed Suicide May 25, 2003"CAUSE OF DEATH: Incised wounds of chest and neck."
Allow us to disabuse the pro-abusers. Dr. Richard Gardner's son told the New York Times that his father committed suicide. Contrary to assertions made by the father's rights movement, Richard Gardner most certainly did not die "peacefully in his sleep". It was far uglier than that.
Read now about this twistedly pathetic man, his ridiculous PAS theory, and the untold damage that he has done.
In Gardner's Own Words
Dr. Richard Gardner:
"Sex Abuse Hysteria:
Salem Witch Trials Revisited''''What I am against is the excessively moralistic and punitive reaction that many members of our society have toward pedophiles ... (going) far beyond what I consider to be the gravity of the crime.''
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
In his 1992 book, ''True and False Accusations of Child Sex Abuse,'' Gardner writes that pedophilia -- adultshaving sexual relations with children -- ''is a widespread and accepted practice among literally billions of people.''
Richard Gardner says,
''all of us have some pedophilia within us.''Insight Magazine, April 1999
"Has Psychiatry Gone Psycho?"By Kelly Patricia O'Meara
According to the developer of the theory, Richard A. Gardner, a clinical professor of child psychiatry, PAS is "a disorder of children, arising almost exclusively in child-custody disputes, in which one parent (usually the mother) programs the child to hate the other parent (usually the father)."
. . . . If a child demonstrates negative feelings toward the father, Gardner's PAS puts the blame on the mother and explains that the confusion is best remedied by increasing the child's time with the father.
When a child has been sexually abused and feels guilt about it, Gardner suggests, the child may be helped to appreciate that "sexual encounters between an adult and a child are not universally considered to be reprehensible acts.
The child might be told about other societies in which such behavior was and is considered normal."
If sexual urges continue after the abuse ends, Gardner suggests such children be encouraged to masturbate.
Gardner suggests that the molesting-father's behavior should be understood. The father "has to be helped to appreciate that, even today, [pedophilia] is a widespread and accepted practice among literally billions of people" and "he [the father] has had a certain amount of bad luck with regard to the place and time he was born with regard to social attitudes toward pedophilia."
Child Custody Litigation (1986) p.93
"At the present time, the sexually abused child is generally considered to be the victim," though the child may initiate sexual encounters by 'seducing' the adult."
Gardner, Richard A.,
True and False Accusations of Child Sex Abuse (1992)
"It is of interest that of all the ancient peoples it may very well be that the Jews were the only ones who were punitive toward pedophiles."
Ibid. pp.46-47Many child advocates are "charlatans, and/or psychopaths, and/or incompetents."
Ibid. p.526"It is _extremely_ important for therapists to appreciate that the child who has been genuinely abused may _not_ need psychotherapeutic intervention."
Ibid. p.535"If the mother has reacted to the abuse in a hysterical fashion, or used it as an excuse for a campaign of denigration of the father, then the therapist does well to try and 'sober her up'... Her hysterics... will contribute to the child's feeling that a heinous crime has been committed and will thereby lessen the likelihood of any kind of rapproachment with the father.
One has to do everything possible to help her put the 'crime' in proper perspective.
She has to be helped to appreciate that in most societies in the history of the world, such behavior was ubiquitous, and this is still the case."
Ibid. p.584-585"Of relevance here is the belief by many of these therapists that a sexual encounter between an adult and a child -- no matter how short, no matter how tender, loving,
and non-painful -- automatically and predictably _must_ be psychologically traumatic to the child... The determinant as to whether the experience will be traumatic is the social attitude toward these encounters."
Ibid. pp.670-71"I believe it is reasonable to say that at this time there are millions of people in the United States who are either directly accusing or supporting false sex-abuse accusations and/or are reacting in an extremely exaggerated fashion to situations in which _bona fide_ sex abuse has occurred."
Ibid. p.688Richard Gardner in
''Sex Abuse Hysteria''
Judges ''may have repressed pedophilic impulses over which there is suppression, repression, and guilt. Inquiry into the details of the case provides voyeuristic and vicarious gratifications."
¬Ý
Unscientific Garbage¬Ý
University of Washington Professor
John Conte has described Gardner's "Sex Abuse Legitimacy Scale" as"probably the most unscientific piece of garbage I've seen in the field in all my time. To base social policy on something as flimsy as this is exceedingly dangerous."
According to "Violence In The Family," a 1996 report of the American Psychological Association Presidential Task Force on Violence And the Family:
The task force found that court decisions awarding an allegedly abusive father custody of his children "... may improperly rely on inaccurate and unsupported theories such as The Parental Alienation Syndrome."
Margaret Hagen, a Boston University professor of psychology and author of Whores of the Court, says
"parental alienation is just another bogus psychological theory infecting the nation's legal system."
Carol S. Bruch, Professor of Law and Chair,
Doctoral Programme in Human Developement,
University of California, Davis
Parental Alienation Syndrome:
Junk Science in Child Custody Determinations"Possibly as a consequence of these errors and his 'tail-of-the-elephant' view,
Gardner vastly overstates the frequency of cases in which children and custodial parents manufacture false allegations or collude to destroy the parent-child relationship.
Taken together, these assertions have the practical effect of impugning all abuse allegations, allegations that Gardner asserts are usually false in the divorce context.
Here, too, Gardner cites no evidence in support of his personal view, and the relevant literature reports the contrary, that such allegations are usually well-founded."
According to John E. B. Myers in his article,
"What Is Parental Alienation Syndrome
And Why Is It So Often Used Against Mothers?""Dr. Gardner's Parental Alienation Syndrome has not, to my knowledge, been subjected to empirical study, research, or testing. Nor to my knowledge has the syndrome been published in peer reviewed medical or scientific journals."
The American Prosecutors Research Institute in Virginia
"that Gardner's research, including PAS, has not been peer-reviewed or officially recognized by the AMA and the APA. Gardner has been able to get around the peer review process by publishing his own works. Creative Therapeutics, which published "Parental Alienation Syndrome", is Gardner's own publishing company."
¬Ý
Moneymaker
"When a fellow says it hain't the money but the principle o' the thing, it's th' money."
Oscar Wilde, 1854-1900from New Times LA Edition
Thursday March 4, 1999
The Scarlet LetterSince coming up with his theory, Gardner has begun self-publishing his work in a series of books, training family court evaluators and judges around the country, and testifying as an expert witness in custody cases for $500 an hour, almost exclusively for fathers.
The color of Parental Alienation Syndrome is green.
PAS is a huge moneymaker for the unethical psychologists and evaluators who diagnose it. Word travels fast among lawyers. If you are the local PASguy, every jackass attorney will know it. You will be invited into every abuse case within 100 miles. Do not wreck your reputation - never disappoint - keep those PAS reports coming and the money will follow.
cha-ching
Remember - all that a psychologist need do, is make recommendations that ensure his continued involvement.
A $5,000 case can easily become a $10,000 case - or more!
Diagnose a case of PAS just once a month and presto! - that's annually an extra $60,000 - or more!
The Oscar for the best moneymaker theory in child custody evaluations goes to ...
Parental Alienation
Syndrome
Attack The Mother
¬Ý
Judith Reisman, president of the Institute for Media Education and author of Kinsey, Crimes and Consequences, has another view.According to John E. B. Myers in his article,
"What Is Parental Alienation Syndrome And Why Is It So Often Used Against Mothers?""If you are a woman and you allege child sexual abuse, expect to be attacked with Richard Gardner's Parental Alienation Syndrome. Gardner's writing is popular among attorney's who represent men accused of abuse, and among some mental health professionals."
Trish Wilson
How "Parental Alienation Syndrome" is Used Against Mothers And Children Who Allege Child Sexual AbusePAS is very popular amongst members of the father's rights movement as well as men who have been charged with both child abuse and domestic violence.
Fathers' rights groups equate "lack of substantiation" with "lying."
If she alleged abuse, she could be slapped with "Parental Alienation Syndrome" and lose custody of her children -- which ultimately was the final outcome. If she ignored the abuse, she was told by a crisis intervention counselor that she could be prosecuted for failure to protect.
Damned if you do. Damned if you don't.
"Anyone who thinks and says that incest can be avoided if the mother has better sex with the father may clinically be defined as a psychopath and needs help." She adds that "buying a vibrator is not going to make a happy home. Obviously he has his own demons to deal with."
Robin Yeamans, California attorney
"Once a mother is called an alienator, police are informed, social workers are informed, and everything she says from then on counts for nothing."
Yeamans, who knows dozens of women who have lost their children in alienation cases, adds, "This is the new scarlet letter."
PAS Made Him Do It
¬Ýfrom New Times LA Edition
Thursday March 4, 1999
The Scarlet Letter
In a 1988 custody case in Maryland, Gardner testified that physicist Marc Friedlander should receive temporary custody of his two sons because his wife, Zitta, also a physicist, was aparental alienator who had interfered with her husband's visitation rights. While the custody battle was unfolding, Friedlander shot his wife 13 times as she walked to her car after work. During Friedlander's murder trial, Gardner testified that Zitta Friedlander's alienating behavior had made her husband psychotic. The jury didn't buy Gardner's temporary insanity argument, though, and Friedlander was found guilty of first-degree murder.Dr. Richard Gardner in New Jersey
Dr. Richard Gardner, seen here in February 1999 at age 67, authored the money making PAS theory that made him a very rich man. Gardner committed suicide on May 25, 2003, plunging a seven inch butcher knife into his neck and heart. Gardner testified mostly for men, charging $500 per hour, routinely recommending custody to abusers, deprogramming children and threat therapy for mothers. Gardner was against "the excessively moralistic and punitive reaction that many members of our society have toward pedophiles".
"Parental Alienation Syndrome
and Parental Alienation:
Getting it Wrong
in Child Custody Cases"by Carol S. Bruch
Professor of Law and Chair,
Doctoral Programme in Human Developement,
University of California, Davis¬Ý
"Although Dr. Gardner sometimes states that his analysis does not apply to cases of actual abuse, the focus of his attention is directed at discerning whether the beloved parent and child are lying, not whether the target parent is untruthful or has behaved in a way that might explain the child's aversion."
Bruch (p. 528-529)"Two examples are his efforts to distinguish true from false allegations and his blanket advice to judges that they should refrain from taking abuse allegations seriously, even when supported by a therapist who has seen the child."
Bruch (p. 529, footnote 6)"First, Gardner confounds a child's developmentally related reaction to divorce and high parental conflict (including violence) with psychosis."
Bruch (page 530)
"Worse yet, if therapists agree that danger exists, Gardner asserts that they are almost always man-hating women who have entered into a folie-ˆÝ-trois with the complaining child and concerned parent."
Bruch (p. 532)"In sum, children's reluctance or refusal to visit noncustodial parents can probably be better explained without resorting to Gardner's theory. Studies that followed families over several years, for example, report that visits may cease or be resisted when a variety of reasons cause custodial parents and children to be angry or uncomfortable with the other parent."
Bruch (p. 534)"First, Gardner is broadly (but mistakenly) believed to be a full professor at a prestigious university."
Bruch (p. 534-535)"Because this aura of expertise accompanies his work, few suspect that it is mostly self-published."
Bruch (page 535)". . . receives referrals from the websites of fathers' organizations, and provides packaged continuing education courses for professionals."
Bruch (p. 535-536)"Finally, he often inaccurately represents or suggests that PAS is consistent with or endorsed by the accepted work of others."
Bruch (p. 536)"...whenever child sexual abuse allegations or disrupted visitation patterns arise in the United States, one must now be prepared to confront a claim asserting that PAS is at work, not abuse or other difficulties."
Bruch (page 537)"Following considerable scientific criticism, Gardner withdrew the test he had constructed to determine whether sexual abuse had taken place."
Bruch (p. 539)Richard Gardner's Favorite
JUDGES
Richard Gardner penned a response to Carol S. Bruch's study of him and his ridiculous, debunked PAS theory. Gardner claimed that there are 66 PAS judges in the United States. This is hard to verify because Gardner does not name the moron 66.
Here are the final 2 paragraphs of
Gardner's response to Bruch from:Family Law Quarterly 35(3):527-552, 2001
Comments on Carol S. Bruch's Article
"Parental Alienation Syndrome and Parental Alienation:
Getting it Wrong in Child Custody Cases"Richard A. Gardner, M.D.:
¬Ý"There are many other criticisms I have of the Bruch article, which is not the disinterested, comprehensive survey of the material available onPAS that it represents itself to be. My final conclusion is that it is not I who am biased and misrepresenting the material; it is clearly Bruck herself.
Last, I believe that all of Bruck's attempts to discredit and deny PAS will prove futile, her obvious great labors toward that goal notwithstanding.PAS exists, and corroboration of that is the 66 judges who have cited it, and the over 150 authors who have written about it."
Geographic PAS Warning
If you are a protective parent or abused child living in any of the following American states, Canadian provinces or five other countries, you may have to contend with a twisted legal system infected with the debunked PAS theory. Over the past two decades, Parental Alienation Syndrome has had legal success to varying degrees in the following regions:
Known PAS States in the USA - 23
¬ÝAlabama
¬ÝFlorida
¬ÝNevada
¬ÝTexas¬ÝAlaska
¬ÝIllinois
¬ÝNew Hampshire
¬ÝVirginia¬ÝArkansas
¬ÝIndiana
¬ÝNew Jersey
¬ÝWashington¬ÝCalifornia
¬ÝIowa
¬ÝNew York
¬ÝWisconsin¬ÝColorado
¬ÝLouisiana
¬ÝOhio
¬ÝWyoming¬ÝConnecticut
¬ÝMichigan
¬ÝPennsylvania
¬ÝKnown PAS Provinces
in Canada - 7
Known PAS Countries Elsewhere - 5¬Ý
¬Ý¬ÝAlberta
¬ÝAustralia¬ÝBritish Columbia
¬ÝGermany¬ÝNew Brunswick
¬ÝGreat Britain¬ÝNew Foundland
¬ÝIsrael¬ÝNova Scotia
¬ÝSwitzerland¬ÝOntario
¬Ý¬ÝQuebec
¬ÝLawyers everywhere know of the debunked PAS theory and many attempt to use it in defense of accused clients. Some lawyers shamelessly operate under a "whatever it takes" motto. And of course all it takes is one whacked judge for your region to make the list.
If you are one of the judges who has accepted PAS into your courtroom, then you have allowed a theory concocted by a man so mentally unbalanced that he would later commit suicide by thrusting a butcher's knife into his heart and who once also wrote,
''What I am against is the excessively moralistic and punitive reaction that many members of our society have toward pedophiles ... (going) far beyond what I consider to be the gravity of the crime.''
A PAS GameSweet Letters & Sour Motives
Imagine that someone steals your car?
And then the thief writes you a very nice letter offering to give you a lift in your stolen car?
The thief just wants to be friends. That would be incredible, right?
When you decline and say you just want your goddamn car back, the thief criticizes you for not being very nice and calls you rude.
Indeed, the thief shows others copies of his letters to prove how nice he has been to you. And perhaps your impolite responses.
This is like a PAS game.
Abusers play this game very well.
Instead of a car, the Abuser steals a child's innocence and scars him for life. And then expects the accusing parent to be a nice, civil and cooperative co-parent.
Any accusing parent stung by PAS theory can tell you all about "the abuser's letters".
So many Abusers do this, that it is hard to imagine that they have not been advised to do so. The purpose of the letters are to make the accusing parent appear uncooperative - and in Dr. Richard Gardner's PAS world, the uncooperative parent is to be punished.
The Abuser is not really writing to the accusing parent, but rather, for the benefit of a PAS Judge or evaluator.
The Abuser has almost no expectation that the accusing parent will receive the letters well. The Abuser knows that the accusing parent regards him as sick and wrong.
The Abuser hopes to create a mistake in the accusing parent's response, or non-response, or to simply show the letters one day to a PAS Judge or evaluator. The Abuser hopes with the letters to box in the accusing parent.
If the accusing parent accidentally extends to the Abuser a courtesy that is too generous, then it undermines the allegations of abuse. If the accusing parent isn't cooperative at all, then according to Gardner, that parent cannot be a reliable co-parent and custody therefore should go to the Abuser.
It's so very easy to prove that the accusing parent, angry about the abuse of their child, isn't particularly fond of the parent they believe to have committed that abuse. While right thinking people (and right thinking judges) can easily understand that and believe it to be only natural, PAS Judges and evaluators welcome the abuser's letters. In their PAS eyes, it is proof of recalcitrance.
Welcome to the PAS letters game.Can I give you a lift?
Richard Overdoses
While The Evil Dr. Gardner ...
Uses A Butcher's Knife
CincinnatiPAS.com was the first website to report the suicide of the pro-pedophillic Dr. Richard Gardner, reporting the event seven days before the NY Times.
The father's rights movement, true to their disinformation habit, comicly ignore the facts regarding their hero's gory death for the simple reason that it makes Richard Gardner appear mentally unbalanced, which of course he was.
Gardner's misguided supporters are also loathe to explain his many pro-pedophillic opinions (see above), glossing over them. The parental alienationists pretend Gardner simply died in his sleep just as they pretend he was not pro-pedophillic.
Like Gardner's debunked PAS theory, these people are out to lunch. Their sappy tributes to a fallen pro-pedophillic comrade would be funny were it not that some folks actually take these people seriously.
¬Ý
County Of Bergen
Department of Public Safety
Medical ExaminerAutopsy Report
May 27, 2003
02030860.aut
GARDNER, Richard A."This is to certify that I, Laura S. Carbone, M.D., Bergen County Medical Examiner, have conducted a postmortem examination and autopsy on the unembalmed and refrigerated body of Richard A. Gardner at the Bergen County Medical Examiner's Office on May 27, 2003, between 1030 and 1235 hours with the assistance of Ms. Coleen McVeigh."
IDENTIFICATION:
The decedent is identified visually at the scene by his girlfriend, Natalie Weiss.
CLOTHING/PERSONAL EFFECTS:
The decedent is received clad in a white with black print ("carpe diem") sweatshirt, white undershirt, navy blue trousers and white boxer shorts. The garments are all intact showing no discrete perforations or tears. The sweatshirt and undershirt show patchy blood stains which are most concentrated on the right shoulder and the back areas of the garments. A white handkerchief is recovered from the right front pocket of the trousers; a similar handkerchief and 2 1/2 light orange oval tablets are within the left front pocket. A yellow, metal, nugget-type ring is worn on the right middle finger.
All of the above-described items with the exception of the tablets recovered from a pant pocket (retained) are released to the funeral home (Wien and Wien).
OTHER ITEMS:
Various items are recovered from the scene and are received within labeled paper envelopes as follows:
Several bottles of prescription medications are recovered, some of which are empty. For specific medications, dosages, quantities, etc. please see the report prepared by the Medical Examiner Investigator.
A bloodied steak knife is recovered from the scene. The knife has a wooden handle measuring 3 3/4 x 1/2 x 1/4 inches with a yellow metal serrated blade measuring 5 inches in length and up to 5/8 inch wide and 1/16 inch in maximum thickness; dried blood is visible smeared on the blade surface and smudged on the handle. The knife is photographed.
All of the above-described items are retained by the Bergen County Medical Examiner's Office.
MARKS OF TREATMENT:
There is no evidence of terminal medical attention.
RADIOLOGY:
No postmortem x-ray studies are performed.
INJURIES, EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL:
There are incised wounds (sharp-force injuries) to the chest and neck. The injuries are listed below for descriptive purposes only. No sequence is implied.
I. CHEST:
There are at least four stab wounds clustered within a 6 x 3 inch area on the anterior left chest. The wounds will be described from inferior to superior designated A-D as follows:
A:
There is a nearly horizontally-oriented elliptical stab wound centered ... (redacted)B and C:
Wound B is a nearly horizontally-oriented elliptical stab wound ... (redacted)Wound C is an irregularly shaped stab wound ... (redacted)
D:
The body is received with a knife plunged into wound D. The knife is angled upward and inward with the sharp and dull edges of the blade within the lateral and medial edges of the wound, respectively. ... (redacted)Once the knife is removed, wound D consists of an elliptical-shaped stab wound ... (redacted) The medial edge is blunt and the lateral edge is sharp. After penetration through the full thickness of the skin and soft tissue of the left anterior chest wall, the knife extended through the intercostal muscle between the left second and third ribs creating a 2" linear incision. The knife then perforated the superior aspect of the pericardial sac ... (redacted) The knife then penetrated the heart; ... (redacted) The knife then terminated in the lumen of the aorta ... (redacted)
The direction of the wound's track is upward and inward, from left to right. The maximum depth of penetration is approximately 5".
II. NECK:
There are three parallel obliquely-oriented incised wounds on the right lateral aspect of the neck situated approximately 1/2" apart and each at angles along the same line as the angle of the jaw. ... (redacted)
KNIFE:
The knife which is recovered from the subject's chest is a butcher knife having a black and gray metal handle and a gray metal blade measuring 7 3/4" length, 1 3/4" maximum width and up to 1/8" maximum thickness. The sharp edge of the blade shows a pattern of tiny serrations. Much of the blade is bloodied.
The knife is photographed and retained by the Bergen County Medical Examiner's Office.
... (redacted)
¬Ý
FINDINGS/FINAL DIAGNOSIS:
I. Incised wounds of chest and neck.
A. Stab wounds (4) of left chest with:
(a) Incisions of heart, aorta and pericardial sac.
(b) Hemothoraz (1200ml), left.
(c) Soft tissue hemorrhages.B. Incised wounds (3) of right neck with:
(a) Transection of right jugular vein.
(b) Incision of right thyroid cartilage lamina.
(c) Soft tissue hemorrhages.... (redacted)
¬Ý
CAUSE OF DEATH:
Incised wounds of chest and neck.
MANNER OF DEATH:
Suicide.
¬Ý
Laura S. Carbone, M.D.
Assistant Medical Examiner
Date Dictated: 05-27-03
Date Transcribed: 06-23-03
Date Finalized: 07-02-03End of Excerpt of Medical Examiner's Autopsy
What a scene that must have been?
Three stabs to the neck.
- That's gotta hurt!
Four stabs to the heart & chest.
- Ouch!Can you imagine Richard Gardner stabbing himself in such a horrific way? Blood all over the place? It would be like Norman Bates slashing himself. You can hear the Psycho music too.
Internally conflicted and mentally unstable to the last, this web site wonders whether Richard took the overdose - while the evil Dr. Gardner preferred a butcher's knife?
Richard had the right idea, a painless forever snooze.
But what drove the evil Dr. Gardner to choose for himself such a gory, bloody and violent death?
¬Ý
New York Times
June 9, 2003, Monday
METROPOLITAN DESK
Richard Gardner, 72, Dies;
Cast Doubt on Abuse ClaimsBy STUART LAVIETES
"Dr. Richard A. Gardner, a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who developed a theory about parental alienation syndrome, which he said could lead children in high-conflict custody cases to falsely accuse a parent of abuse, died on May 25 at his home in Tenafly, N.J. He was 72.
The cause was suicide, said Dr. Gardner's son, Andrew, who said his father had been distraught over the advancing symptoms of reflex sympathetic dystrophy, a painful neurological syndrome.
Dr. Gardner, who testified in more than 400 child custody cases, maintained that children who suffered from parental alienation syndrome had been indoctrinated by a vindictive parent and obsessively denigrated the other parent without cause.
In severe cases, he recommended that courts remove children from the homes of the alienating parents and place them in the custody of the parents accused of abuse.
His theory has provoked vehement opposition from some mental health professionals, child abuse experts and lawyers. Critics argue that it lacks a scientific basis, noting that the American Psychiatric Association and the American Medical Association have not recognized it as a syndrome.
They also say that the theory is biased against women, as allegations of abuse are usually directed at fathers, and that it is used as a weapon by lawyers seeking to undermine a mother's credibility in court." ...
... "His marriage to Lee Gardner ended in divorce. In addition to his son, of Cherry Hill, N.J., he is survived by two daughters, Nancy Gardner Rubin of Potomac, Md., and Julie Gardner Mandelcorn, of Newton, Mass.; his mother, Amelia Gardner of Manhattan; eight grandchildren; and his partner, Natalie Weiss.
Correction: June 14, 2003, Saturday An obituary on Monday about Dr. Richard A. Gardner, a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, misstated his position at Columbia University. He was a clinical professor of psychiatry in the division of child and adolescent psychiatry -- an unpaid volunteer -- not a professor of child psychiatry."
End of Obituary Excerpt
¬Ý
¬Ý
¬Ý
A comment about Dr. Richard Gardner's suicide released by the last man to cross examine him, attorney Richard Ducote:
¬Ý¬ÝJune 1, 2003
"Parental Alienation Syndrome is a bogus, pro-pedophillic fraud concocted by Richard Gardner. I was the last attorney to cross examine Gardner. In Paterson, NJ, he admitted that he has not spoken to the Dean of Columbia's medical school for over 15 years, and has not had hospital admitting privileges for over 25 years.
He has not been court appointed to do anything for decades.
The only two appellate courts in the country who have considered the question of whether PAS meets the Frye test, i.e., whether it is generally accepted in the scientific community, said it does not. As Dr. Paul Fink, former president of the American Psychiatric Association has stated, Dr. Gardner and PAS should be only a "pathetic footnote" in psychiatric history. Gardner and his bogus theory have done untold damage to sexually and physically abused children and their protective parents. PAS has been rejected by every reputable organization considering it.
In a Florida case in which I was recently involved, when the judge insisted on a Frye hearing, Gardner simply did not show up. Perhaps because he finally realized that the entire nation was on to his scam, he committed suicide on May 25. Let's pray that his ridiculous, dangerous PAS foolishness died with him."
Richard Ducote
attorney at law
New Orleans, LAInternally conflicted and mentally unstable to the last, this website wonders whether Richard took the overdose -
while the evil Dr. Gardner preferred a butcher's knife?
Did Richard Gardner Also Cause 16 year old Nathan Grieco's Suicide?
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, in performing their civic duty to inform and enlighten, ran a two part investigative story on a tragic custody war in their city in which Dr. Richard Gardner became personally involved as an expert witness.
Dr. Gardner interviewed the allegedly abusive father but did not interview the mother nor the three boys at the center of the custody dispute. Nevertheless, Gardner diagnosed "a classical case of PAS" based upon his conversations with his paying client. He called the mother and her three sons "sadistic" and recommended that they be "coerced" (he actually used that word) into making the boys visit their father.
Gardner recommended to the Pittsburgh judge something he called "Threat Therapy", in which the mother should be jailed if the boys did not visit their physically and mentally abusive father. In regard to accusing mothers, Gardner believed that therapists do well to "sober" them up. Otherwise, the children might think that a "heinous crime" has been committed.
Despite its' questionable constitutionality, the Pittsburgh judge went along with Gardner's forced visit "threat therapy" recommendation and what's more, the mother was ordered to deliver the boys in a positive frame of mind or be held for sanctions. The oldest boy, 16 year old Nathan Grieco soon after suffered a nervous breakdown, was hospitalized and eventually committed suicide.
Nathan's mother went public 2 weeks after his death, blaming Dr. Richard Gardner and Pittsburgh Judge John J. Driscoll. Her story created a national outcry.
Click below to read this Pittsburgh family's heart wrenching story and see why it is that so many right thinking mental health and legal professionals regard Dr. Richard Gardner as having been nothing more than a dangerous con man.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Casualties of a Custody War - What's best for the child? (Part One)
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Casualties of a Custody War - The courtroom as battleground (Part two)
Click Here For
The Bergen County- New Jersey Medical Examiner:
Complete Dr. Richard Gardner Autopsy Report
"I know no safe depository of the ultimate powers of society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion."
Thomas Jefferson, 1820
