ABSTRACT
Since the 1980s, alienation of a child from a parent following separation and divorce has attracted significant attention in custody disputes and in recent years has produced extensive legal, psychological, and media-based controversy (Kelly and Johnston, 2001). Most practitioners agree that alienation occurs on a continuum from loyalty binds to visitation refusal and includes any conscious or unconscious attempt to align a child against the other parent. Visitation refusal is a state in which a child is unwilling to spend time with the noncustodial parent.
