Going Mental: Does Your Teenager Treat You Like Your Crazy Ex Did?

Paul Elam: When most of us think of parental alienation(PA), we think of the removal of children from the lives of their fathers; of kids being brainwashed into thinking ill of dad, and slowly being poisoned into emotional distance and even hatred. All of this is true. However, one of the things not as often discussed about PA is when children, particularly during adolescence, begin emulating the abusive treatment of the alienating mother.


Teenagers who treat the father like he is an emotional dumping ground, shoveling out disrespect in the same way modeled by mom often still maintain the expectations that dad will act as a selfless provider. He is expected to either open up his wallet on demand or drop whatever he is doing in life to attend to desires for which they have not bothered to plan in advance.

Failure to comply often results in more hostility and more demonization. Sadly, alienated fathers often cave in to this kind of abuse and manipulation and are rarely if ever rewarded for it.

Yes, teenagers can be abusers, just like the crazy ex wife.
Please join Dr. Tara Palmatier and Paul Elam for the next episode of Going Mental, when we talk about what you do when your teenager is treating you like your ex did when you were married.