PARENTAL ALIENATION IS CHILD PSYCHOLOGICAL ABUSE

"I'M THE BETTER PARENT"

BY STEPHANIE LINDHARDT ROMRELL

 

I drew this piece to visually explain the psychological aspects of Attachment Based Parental Alienation. Attachment Based Parental Alienation is a severe form of child psychological abuse and can cause life long attachment issues. Healing is possible but it begins with awareness. All children deserve to love and be loved by BOTH sides of the family! I hope this piece brings awareness to that.

 

 

The mother is depicted staring into a mirror that the child is holding for her while the child adoringly gazes up at her mother, both of them oblivious to the poison surrounding their hyper-intense bond.

The mother whispers constant statements of fear and rejection about the Dad while she puppeteers various realms to hyper inflate the vilification of him in order to reaffirm the fear and hatred to the child and those within their exclusive circle. This manipulative puppeteering extends to family, friends, medical providers, therapists, teachers, police, and anyone the mother can use to build an army that validates her selfish false reality and the hyper intense vilification of the child's  once loved parent.

This type of behavior is not normal. It is not healthy. It is a sign of major disfunction and abuse disguised as love and care. 


I added a full array of color and beauty to create an illusion of perfection from afar... you must look closely and analyze the piece in order to see the underlying bizarre reality of abuse that exists between parent and child.

I depicted the parent focused on herself in the mirror instead of the child because parents who engage in this type of behavior are self centered, immature, and more concerned about control and their own image than they are about the safety and well being of their child.

I drew the child with a split mind, with full color as she presents her full focus and support on to her mother (as she is expected to do), and added a black and white shadow version of her split reality to display what goes on behind the scenes in the child's brain as they attempt to digest the lies.

The bubbles float with the Psychological terms that umbrella the various behaviors. Personally, I love psychological terms because not only do they explain the behavior, they offer insight for healing.

I represented this behavior between mother and child, but it is also found between father and child, and sometimes even grandparent and child. It is also often encouraged by a new spouse or partner, sometimes even after the alienated parent is deceased. This poisonous behavior has few boundaries in how it presents itself within family units. The key to identifying it is the controlled erasure of a once loved parent.

I commemorate this piece to erased parents everywhere and especially to all the children suffering from this tragic and silent form of psychological abuse.

You can download the art for free here: