Richard A. Gardner
| Richard Alan Gardner | |
|---|---|
| Born |
April 28, 1931 The Bronx, New York City |
| Died | May 25, 2003 (aged 72) Tenafly, New Jersey |
| Fields | Child psychiatry |
| Institutions | Columbia University |
| Known for | Parental alienation syndrome |
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Website rgardner.com at the Wayback Machine (archived April 29, 2007) |
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Richard Alan Gardner (April 28, 1931 – May 25, 2003) was an American psychiatrist known for researching parental alienation syndrome (PAS), a theory that has been discredited by all major psychological organizations. According to Gardner's claims, the alienating parent attempts to damage or sever the child's relationship with the non-custodial parent. Gardner researched the PAS phenomenon through personal observation in his private practice to explain what he considered to be an epidemic of false accusations of child sexual abuse. In addition to his practice, Gardner held a fully credentialed position as a clinical professor of psychiatry in Columbia University's division of child and adolescent psychiatry. Over the course of his career he published more than 40 books and 250 articles in a variety of areas of child psychiatry and operated a company, Creative Therapeutics, Inc., that marketed materials based on his theories. Gardner testified as an expert witness in many of custody cases in the USA. Gardner died by suicide in 2003.
Gardner was born in The Bronx on April 28, 1931 and graduated from Columbia College, Columbia University and the SUNY Downstate Medical Center, also serving as the director of child psychiatry in the United States Army medical corps while in Germany. Gardner was married to, then subsequently divorced Lee Gardner, with whom he had three children (Andrew, Nancy and Julie). Later he was a partner of Natalie Weiss.
Gardner had a private practice and held an unpaid position as Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Columbia University. Gardner claimed to have authored 85 articles in peer review journals, numerous books and testified in more than 400 child custody cases (one of which was the Wee Care Nursery School ritual abuse case). In 1970 when divorce was becoming more common in the United States, Gardner wrote Boys and Girls Book About Divorce to provide children with suggestions on how to cope with the situation, and in 1973 he created one of the first board games for use in child psychotherapy.
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