Parental Alienation Specialist | Mittagong NSW | Counselling & Psychotherapy Cen

Parental Alienation, Abduction and Homicide

Dr Alyse Price-Tobler provides compassionate, trauma-informed counselling to those impacted by child psychological abuse related to parental alienation and abduction. She is also currently researching and designing a world-first therapeutic treatment protocol (Volume Three) for mental health practitioners who work with adult children of severe level parental alienation (SPA) and child abduction.

Support for Survivors

Dr Price-Tobler is available to support:

Adolescents and adult child survivors of parental alienation and abduction

Survivors who have reunited with their targeted parent

Those who are considering reunification but remain uncertain

Survivors whose allied parent is unsupportive or interfering with reunification

Survivors who have a strained relationship with either their targeted or allied parent

Individuals who were abducted or alienated from a safe, loving, and emotionally available parent and their extended family

Support for Parents

Dr Price-Tobler also offers counselling to targeted and allied parents, including:

Targeted parents whose children have been alienated or abducted

Allied parents seeking insight or support around their child’s psychological recovery and contact resistance

Support Following Mental Illness and Family-Related Homicide

In addition, Dr Price-Tobler provides specialised support for individuals and families who have experienced profound trauma due to family-related homicides. These may include instances of familicide, filicide, patricide, matricide, siblicide, or the loss of a spouse or partner through uxoricide or mariticide—events that can occur in the context of high-conflict separations or abusive dynamics. Homicidal events perpetrated by step-parents are also included in this grouping.

These deeply distressing tragedies leave lasting impacts on those left behind, including situations where a loved one with a severe and persistent mental illness has harmed family members. Dr Price-Tobler offers respectful, confidential counselling to those affected, helping them navigate the immense grief, trauma, survivor's guilt, and complex emotional aftermath of such loss. She also founded and facilitated an international support group specifically for survivors whose loved ones, suffering from severe and persistent mental illness, have harmed or killed family members, creating a rare space for shared understanding and healing among those affected by this unique form of trauma.

She also supports extended families, schools, and communities coming to terms with these events.

An Inclusive, Respectful Environment

Support is provided in a non-judgmental, inclusive environment, with a focus on healing complex relational trauma, rebuilding trust, and restoring family bonds where safe and appropriate.

If you or someone you know is affected by parental alienation, abduction, or the traumatic loss of a family member through violence, you are not alone—specialist support is available.

Resources https://journal.parentalalienation.eu/parental-alienation-a-violent-and-potentially-lethal-social-and-psychological-phenomenon-download

WHAT IS ADULT-CHILD PSYCHOLOGICAL ABUSE (PARENTAL ALIENATION)

Clinical Definition of "Parental Alienation"

At a clinical level, "parental alienation" involves a child getting drawn into their parents' marital conflict by forming a coalition with a narcissistic or borderline parent against the other parent. This alliance leads to a breakdown in the child's relationship with the targeted parent. The narcissistic or borderline parent uses the child to manage their own anxiety stemming from the divorce, essentially reversing the parent-child roles to ease their distress. This anxiety arises from three main sources: narcissistic anxiety, which threatens the parent's self-image; borderline anxiety, rooted in fear of abandonment; and trauma anxiety, linked to unresolved childhood attachment issues driving parental alienation.

However, continually referring to this clinical phenomenon by its full definition can be cumbersome. Alternative terms like "trauma reenactment alienation" or "induced child rejection through role reversal" have been suggested, but "parental alienation" remains the commonly used term. While not a precise clinical term, "parental alienation" encompasses a range of clinical constructs with defined meanings in scientific literature.

Please note that child psychological abuse will be referred to as parental alienation throughout this website due to the general public being more familiar with this term.

Boundaries of Professional Competence in Australia: Understanding Parental Alienation, Pathogenic Parenting, and the Decompensation of Narcissistic-Borderline Personality StructureAdapted from C.A. Childress, Psy.D. (2011)Australian Clinical Adaptation by Dr. Alyse Price-Tobler (2025)

Executive Academic Summary

This document provides an Australian adaptation of Dr. C.A. Childress's 2011 conceptualisation of parental alienation as a symptom constellation arising from the decompensation of narcissistic-borderline personality structure in one parent. It integrates Australian clinical, ethical, and legal standards relevant to psychologists, clinical psychotherapists, social workers, and counsellors registered with the Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia (PACFA) and Australian Counselling Association (ACA).

The core thesis proposes that parental alienation, when accurately conceptualised, represents not mere conflict or rejection but rather the transference of delusional beliefs and personality pathology from an aligned parent to the child. This process suppresses the child’s biologically ingrained attachment system, representing a form of pathogenic parenting with serious child protection implications.

Key Clinical Concepts

1. Decompensation and Projection:
Under stress, a parent with narcissistic-borderline personality traits may decompensate, developing paranoid and persecutory delusions often centred on the other parent (Millon, 2011).

2. Pathogenic Parenting:
The psychological material from the decompensating parent is transferred to the child through subtle or overt social referencing, creating shared delusional beliefs (folie à deux) that impair the child’s attachment functioning.

3. Induced Psychopathology in the Child:
Children often present with symptoms that mimic narcissistic, borderline, and paranoid traits, all of which have been socially adopted, not naturally developed. This includes irrational fear, hatred, or disgust toward the rejected parent without justifiable cause

4. Attachment System Suppression:
The natural, neurobiologically embedded attachment system becomes suppressed in favour of loyalty to the psychologically dominant parent. This is not alienation in the social sense but in the neurodevelopmental and psychological sense.

Ethical and Legal Responsibilities in the Australian Context

Professionals must act within the boundaries of their competence, as outlined in:

APS Code of Ethics (2007):

Standard B.1.2 and B.1.6: Practice within competence; refer if necessary.

Standard A.4.4: Terminate therapy if no benefit or harm is occurring.

PACFA Code of Ethics (2022):

Section 4.1: Work within the limits of professional training and experience.

Section 5.3: Obtain regular supervision; remain up to date through professional development.

AASW Code of Ethics (2020):

Section 5.2.1: Maintain competence through lifelong learning and ethical reflection.

Consequences of Incompetent Practice

Failure to appropriately assess and respond to this presentation may result in:

Misdiagnosis (e.g., diagnosing the child with oppositional-defiant disorder or autism).

Therapeutic Harm (prolonged sessions that reinforce false beliefs).

Legal Risk for the clinician under negligence or mandatory reporting laws.

Violation of Duty of Care, potentially reportable to:

AHPRA

Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC)

PACFA Ethics Committee

Child Protection Implications

In cases where children adopt delusional and maladaptive beliefs from a parent, mental health practitioners must consider their mandatory reporting responsibilities under state legislation. For example:

In NSW, the Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998 defines reportable conduct broadly, including psychological abuse and emotional neglect.

In Victoria, the Children, Youth and Families Act 2005 mandates reporting by registered practitioners where there is a belief on reasonable grounds of psychological harm.

Clinical Psychotherapists and Counsellors (PACFA & ACA)

Clinicians registered under PACFA or ACA must:

Recognise that the treatment of shared delusional disorder and personality disorder projections requires specialist supervision or referral.

Attend continuing professional development (CPD) programs covering family systems, high-conflict separation, complex trauma, and attachment theory.

Avoid court-involved therapeutic work without specific training and familiarity with family law dynamics and child developmental trauma.

Cross-Referencing Dr. Craig Childress

Dr. Craig Childress asserts that professionals working with children of high-conflict divorce, psychological abuse, or parental alienation must possess expertise in:

Personality Disorder Dynamics: Understanding decompensation in narcissistic-borderline personalities.

Attachment System Functioning: Recognising suppression and dysfunction of child attachment.

Induced Delusions: Diagnosing shared persecutory delusions.

Developmental Social Referencing: Understanding how children adopt parental distortions in ambiguous contexts.

Failure to acquire this expertise may constitute ethical violations. Dr. Childress aligns this failure with professional negligence and violations of duty to protect (e.g., APA Standards 2.01, 10.10, and Principle A; analogous to APS B.1.2 and A.4.4).

Dr. Childress’s Attachment-Based Parental Alienation (AB-PA) model identifies three clinical indicators:

Suppression of the child’s attachment system

Adopted narcissistic traits

Encapsulated persecutory delusions

When present, these symptoms meet criteria for DSM-5 code V995.51 (Child Psychological Abuse). Treatment necessitates protective separation and system-wide intervention.

For Australian clinicians, the implications are clear: practice within scope, seek supervision, document thoroughly, and treat such cases as complex trauma with attachment disruption. Failure to do so may be considered unethical and negligent under Australian regulations.

Recommendations for Best Practice

Mental health professionals working with children affected by pathogenic parenting and parental alienation must be highly experienced and specifically trained in this clinical domain. It is not sufficient to apply generalised family therapy or behavioural management strategies. These cases often involve complex trauma, induced delusional beliefs, and personality disorder dynamics that require sophisticated clinical insight and ethical decision-making.

Training: Undertake advanced and ongoing training in complex trauma, narcissistic and borderline personality pathology, forensic family systems, and attachment-based parental alienation (AB-PA). Clinicians should be familiar with the AB-PA model, DSM-5 criteria for V995.51 (Child Psychological Abuse), and relevant psychometric tools.

Supervision: Engage in regular, specialised supervision with a professional experienced in high-conflict family dynamics, shared delusional systems, and legal interface. Supervision should include ethical case formulation, risk assessment for psychological harm, and court-preparedness. Please note that Dr Price-Tobler has been under the clinical supervision of Dr Childress for the past five years.

Assessment and Screening Tools: Use comprehensive and validated psychometric tools such as the BPRS (Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale), MCMI-IV, and AB-PA Diagnostic Checklist to evaluate attachment system suppression, personality trait adoption, and false belief structures in children.

Protective Planning: Where warranted, recommend protective separation from the aligned parent and support therapeutic reunification with the targeted parent. Treatment must address the suppression of the attachment system and dismantle induced persecutory delusions.

Collaboration: Work collaboratively with clinical psychotherapists and psychologists, psychiatrists, forensic psychologists, legal professionals, child protection agencies, and the court system. Clinicians must understand how to structure reports for legal contexts and ensure their findings can withstand cross-examination.

Documentation and Accountability: Maintain rigorous documentation of clinical observations, statements made by children and parents, assessment findings, and therapeutic rationales. Records should be clear, objective, and suitable for presentation in court settings if required.

Ethical Vigilance: Uphold ethical principles, particularly in relation to boundaries of competence, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and child protection. Therapists must be aware of their mandatory reporting obligations and must avoid inadvertently validating false narratives through unstructured therapy.

Ongoing Education: Stay updated through reading academic literature, attending international conferences on attachment, trauma, and forensic family dynamics, and participating in relevant continuing professional development (CPD).

Professionals who are not adequately trained in this area must not undertake therapy, diagnosis, or assessment in such cases until the appropriate expertise has been acquired. Inappropriate intervention can cause further harm to the child and legal repercussions for the practitioner.

Conclusion

The phenomenon commonly known as “parental alienation” in Australia represents a clinical red flag for child protection and complex trauma. It cannot be treated effectively without a proper understanding of pathogenic parenting, personality disorder decompensation, and attachment disruption.

For ethical and competent practice, professionals must stay within their scope, refer when outside it, and continuously develop their understanding of high-conflict family dynamics through formal education and clinical supervision.

Suggested Citation:
Price-Tobler, A. (2025). Boundaries of professional competence in Australia: Understanding parental alienation, pathogenic parenting, and the decompensation of narcissistic-borderline personality structure. Adapted from C.A. Childress (2011).

Please contact Dr Craig Childress or Dr Alyse Price-Tobler for professional development and training enquiries.

What Should You Look For in a Therapist?

When looking for a therapist who counsels young and older adult survivors of parental alienation as well as targeted parents, they must have a deep, extensive knowledge of the clinical literature regarding pathological alignment, alienation and estrangement, and pathological enmeshment, as well substantial knowledge and understanding of borderline, narcissistic, and sociopathic personality disorders.

Clinical level Counsellors, psychotherapists and psychologists dealing with this type of work also need a high-level degree, such as a Master's or above in this specialty. The reason for the latter point is that such personality disorders are not only common among alienating parents (and virtually ubiquitous among severe alienators) but are often missed by non-specialists, in part because individuals with these disorders tend to be master manipulators who are charming and highly skilled at managing first impressions. They also tend to be pathologically dependent, which helps to explain the pathological enmeshment with the child.

Please look at some of the interviews that Dr Price-Tobler has given on her YouTube channel

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiN_DxTEdbOpGZNB3Bo3ndQ

She also co-hosts with Dawn McCarty on the

'Humanly Possible Channel.'

Channel.' https://www.facebook.com/HumanlyPossibleChannel/

Dawn is also an adult child of Severe Parental Alienation, as well as the previous Chair Person for The National Parents Organisation Florida, Associate Producer for the documentary Erasing Family and an advocate “Guardian Ad Litem” (GAL) who is a person the court appoints to investigate what solutions would be in the “best interests of a child during child protection and high conflict custody disputes.

Dr Alyse and Dawn interview leading PA experts and also adult children of mild to severe parental alienation so that their voices can be heard about what it's truly like to grow up in a household that knows high conflict, divorce and separation.

Additional Resources

https://drcachildress-consulting.com/

https://drcraigchildressblog.com/2017/09/13/professional-to-professional-youtube-series/

Watch more about Dawn McCarty here:

Welcome to The Cyber Watch Podcast, hosted by Dawn McCarty, a distinguished figure in the cybersecurity field and a devoted advocate for online safety and childhood trauma awareness. Dawn McCarty is an award-winning cyberologist with over 25 years of experience in information and cybersecurity. Dawn stands at the forefront of digital defence. Her awards, including "Women of the Year in Cybersecurity 2021" and "Visionary Security Awareness Program Leader 2023," underscore her dedication to safeguarding the cyber landscape. Dawn’s academic experience includes dual Bachelor's Degrees in Computer Science and Information Systems, and Criminal Justice - Psychology in Victimology. Dawn also holds a Master's Degree in Criminal Justice with a focus on Crime Scene and Evidence Management, topped with an MBA in Cybersecurity. Some topics we'll cover: • Online Safety • Human Behaviour & Predator Profiling • Childhood Trauma - Emotional and Psychological Abuse • Forensic Document Examination Links

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