Who first identified Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS)?
The term Parental Alienation Syndrome was originally coined by noted psychiatrist Dr. Richard Gardner in mid 80s. Gardner noticed that changes in legal policy that had started about a decade earlier were having a profound effect on how divorcing parents were dealing with each other. The tender-years doctrine that assumed the mother was always the better choice for custody of younger children was being replaced by the idea of joint custody. Custody therefore became another battleground on which divorcing couples could wage war against each other.
