While British army surgeon David Jackson was serving overseas with the United Nations during the war in the former Yugoslavia, his severely narcissistic wife was doing her best to destroy his life and those of his two young daughters, by brainwashing the girls into joining her in her own cleverly constructed version of reality, in which Lt Colonel Jackson was no longer their father. She would go on trying to damage and corrupt them to the best of her ability for nearly 30 years, as well as trying to wreck his subsequent marriage. Only much later was Jackson able to put a name to the dire consequences of her psychopathic behaviour: Parental Alienation Syndrome. Shocking, harrowing and in parts hard to believe – although fully documented – this is Jackson’s horrifying account of their ordeal.
REVIEW
''Parental alienation, child abuse, domestic violence, and false allegations are real problems and increasingly characteristic of high conflict divorces. To understand what is really going on (is it alienation or abuse?) one must look beneath the assumptions and accusations to find the true details of a case. In this regard, David Jackson, a former surgeon and military officer in the UK, has written a sober 700-page book that provides an extraordinary window into the details of a high-conflict and high-profile divorce, including the alienation of his children from him. There can be no denying that parental alienation exists, especially when you read the constant barrage of highly manipulative behaviours that were directed at their daughters by their mother even into their adulthood. This book provides comments from many court hearings and newspaper accounts, so that it is not just his own perspective. It is well researched and reads like a novel. Yet he also includes his own realistic reflections and analysis now from the vantage point of looking back 30 years after all of this occurred. Plus, one of his now-adult daughters adds her own perspective. This is a very helpful book for understanding the inside of a case, which others rarely get to see. It is a cautionary tale for divorcing parents and professionals alike''.
Bill Eddy
Bill Eddy is the lead author of Splitting: Protecting Yourself While Divorcing Someone with Borderline or Narcissistic Personality Disorder and author of Don’t Alienate the Kids: Raising Resilient Children While Avoiding High Conflict Divorce. He is the Co-Founder and Chief Innovation Officer of the High Conflict Institute