A child is taught to hate a parent through tactics such as lies, manipulation, name-calling and fear, just to name a few. If those tactics are bad enough, such as in our case, a child (or children) may eventually cut off all communication with the target parent.
When this happens, literally overnight a parent’s identity changes. He or she is no longer a parent, coach, mentor, teacher and friend. In some cases like ours, the children may change school districts or relocate to an unknown town. A parent is left feeling devastated, hopeless and lost.
This type of loss is incomprehensible to most people. Our very own children have shut us out of their lives because of lies they’ve been indoctrinated to believe.
Because of this, our type of grief is not publicly acknowledged or socially recognized. Instead of trying to understand what happened, society often times assigns a stigma.
For these reasons, Kenneth Doka defined this type of grief as “disenfranchised.”
Unlike death, victims of parental alienation have no closure or resolution for this type of loss. Because of this, the term “ambiguous loss” is applied.
Those who suffer this type of loss may experience difficulties moving forward, making decisions and having relationships.
They may also suffer effects like depression, substance abuse, hopelessness, feelings of helplessness and/or suicidal thoughts.
To learn more about our type of loss, please read this article:
We have created a brochure about our grief. Please view it here: