5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Courtroom Justice will forever respect Dr. Gardner and the legacy he has provided to the innocent, December 15, 2005
This review is from: Sex Abuse Hysteria: Salem Witch Trials Revisited (Hardcover)
First I want to thank negative reviewer "tliliab" for allowing me to purchase this $18 hardback for $1.40--a great tome on the social malaise of today. Anytime a negative reviewer admits in subsequent amazon reviews (on women writing about sex and religion)to getting "quite emotional" and to "carrying emotional baggage" then the negative review speaks for itself.
Gardner has written quite a book in only 150 pages. Read this book and gain the upper hand. There are three people in life, those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and then there are those who wonder "what happened?" In understanding Gardner's Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) theory, the reader gets a sense of enmity to ancillary professionals who obsess with their own "credentialling" and crave a "license" to do harm.
Gardner, as physician, psychoanalyst, child psychiatrist, and prolific author wrote more than 50 books, 25 journal articles, including one discussing religious cults who seize children and brainwash them from their parents, with steps toward child separation from the cult programmer. Gardner also invented a child's game in which players learn logical reasoning, with children clapping and shouting in delight. This game was named one of the top 100 games by Games magazine.
In Sex Abuse Hysteria: Salem Witch Trials Revisited, Gardner discusses the root causes of a nationwide scandal. Any sane person is aware of the mass hysteria of media hype and vengeance of child custody disputes. Constitutional safeguards are ignored as some are found guilty and sentenced for sex crimes that they didn't commit. In many cases the driving force has been a legitimizing of social workers who have long languished in custodial capacities and charitable routines. Polymorphous perversity, a term used by Freud and is considered normal behavior in children, is discussed along with sex-abuse prevention programs and psychodynamics that derive from parental interaction. "Validation" and the psychodynamics of false accusations takes the reader down the slippery slope of witness credibility.
Gardner devised the Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) in which the child becomes alienated from a parent when the other parent claims sexual, physical, or emotional abuse. PAS, with 8 primary signs and symptoms, evolved when Gardner noticed an increasing number of children expressing strong objections over a parent for no apparent reason. Not surprisingly, parental alienation of the child has been called "the most incidious form of child abuse." PAS has proven a highly effective tool in custody battles/divorces, and only with acute denial could anyone question its existence. And yet the politics of jealousy has created some noteworthy infighting within the psychiatric profession in terms of PAS acceptance, as syndrome. But the public gets used to knee-jerk reactions in a profession that seems to be constantly re-inventing itself. It is clear that while medicine generally is based on clinical observation, and not formal research, credence is given to syndrome theory as a means of expressing the otherwise unattainable.
It is unfortunate that at the height of his career, Gardner's debilitating illness--Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy--caused him to overdose, awaken, and use a knife to end his life. After three foot surgeries, and with RSD presenting sharp, out-of-control, leg pain, it was over for a brilliant psychoanalyst and child psychiatrist who left a legacy that contributes greatly to the courtroom drama that can spare innocent lives in moments of heated emotion.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Everyone gets a fair trial, October 13, 2011
This review is from: Sex Abuse Hysteria: Salem Witch Trials Revisited (Hardcover)
Richard Gardner, MD is a practicing child psychiatrist and recognized scholar. In Sex Abuse Hysteria: Salem Witch Trials Revisited he takes on the growing hysteria with regard to child sex abuse allegations.
In the media and in the courts the accused are vilified before they have a fair hearing. Gardner takes a in depth view to understanding the complexity of the evolution of sexual identity.
He does not state that all situations are invalid, he address the small percentage that the tragic plight of this small group- the falsely accused- that this book is devoted.
The subject matter is intense and some of the matter can be very titillating but the point is valid. We should give everyone a fair shake and examine the cultural and social contributions to these perceptions.
In the second part of the book, Gardner does an extensive review of the similarities of the Salem Witch Trials in 1692 and the present child sex abuse hysteria.
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2 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Self-published Tirade ,Woman Hater, Incest Enabler!, February 15, 2004
This review is from: Sex Abuse Hysteria: Salem Witch Trials Revisited (Hardcover)
Gardner has been labeled the "Hitler" of child protective services. Why? Because so many children who were removed from the non-abusive parent and given to the incestuous parent were lost. Defense lawyers used Gardner's unresearched, non-peer reviewed, and totally unscientific theories to defend an accused parent. Gardner coined a psychological syndrome label that does not exist in any field, but that did not stop lawyers from using this unsubstantiated "proof" to take abused children away from the non-abusing parent who was labeled an alienator.
Gardner killed himself, which I think was far too passive a death for someone who caused such evil to continue.
Do not buy this book unless you wish to propagate the terror and misinformation that Gardner started. Unfortunately, 'Gardinites', as supporters of Gardner are called continue to spread his lies to the highest courts and social circles. Too many children have been lost to this monster's vile influence on Judges and lawyers.
I gave this book one star because there was no lower rating.
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