The Mirror Without a Face: The Assessment of Parental Alienation Among Children of High-Conflict Divorces

Parental alienation can have devastating, long-term effects on children (Baker, 2010; Ben Ami & Baker, 2012). Children who are experiencing parental alienation need to be involved in individual and family counseling to prevent emotional and behavior difficulties, especially as such problems could otherwise continue into adulthood. In order for treatment to be successful, counselors must first be able to identify children who are most at-risk. This article will discuss how interviews, observations, and certain standardized and projective assessment instruments can be beneficial when conducting assessments among high-conflict families. The authors will discuss the need for further research to determine if existing assessment instruments can be effective in identifying children who are experiencing parental alienation, as well as the need for the development of a reliable and valid assessment measure that can determine the level of severity of their emotional symptoms.