By Nasar Iqbal ( July 7, 2021, 10:40 AM EDT) -- Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) is a term that was coined by Richard Gardner, a clinical professor of child psychiatry at Columbia University. Parental alienation is a mental condition in children wherein a child prefers one parent over the other without any justified reason. Inducing PAS in a child is a form of emotional abuse. In a way, it may be even more detrimental than physically and/or sexually abusing a child. Although both of these forms of abuse are abominations, they do not necessarily — although they certainly may — cause lifelong psychiatric problems (The Parental Alienation Syndrome, Second Edition, by Richard A. Gardner, M.D., March 1, 1998)....