大象传媒

Splitting up where children are involved is tricky. Especially when it ends up in the family courts. It鈥檚 even more tricky when a child decides they don鈥檛 want a relationship with one of the parents.

Over the last two decades a controversial psychological concept has emerged to describe a situation where children - for no apparent reason - decide they don鈥檛 want to see one parent. It鈥檚 called parental alienation.

Women鈥檚 rights organisations argue parental alienation is used to gaslight abused women. Fathers鈥� rights organisations claim that some mothers make up allegations of abuse to prevent them from seeing their children. And children are caught in the middle.

Sonia Sodha explores the polarizing concept of 鈥減arental alienation鈥� and asks how a contested psychological theory has evolved into an increasingly common allegation in the UK family courts.

Producer: Gemma Newby