Complaint Review: Mary Lund Ph.d. Parental Alienation

Dr. Mary Lund is a self-purported expert on Parental Alienation. She has published many articles and given many public talks regarding parental alienation. However, Dr. Lund's understanding of Parental Alienation is tragically flawed and she often does look out for the best interest of the family and children in her capacity as a custody evaluator. Despite speaking about the "best interest of the child", Dr. Lund will place children in harms way so that she can earn money and maintain her referral relationships with the large law firms in Los Angeles.

First, let's discuss Dr. Lund's flawed conceptualization of Parental Alienation. In her article, "A Therapist's View of Parental Alienation" Dr. Lund works to take blame away from either parent, placing the conflict of the marriage up front as the cause of the alienation. Dr. Lund goes on to quote the now deceased Judge Kenneth Black, who was a dishonest, unethical gun for hire in the private family law world. He stated and Dr. Lund quoted "Mother Theresa does not marry Hitler." What Dr. Lund is doing here is creating a false equivalency. First, Mother Theresa does marry Hitler -it happens every day. Read the newspaper. Kind, gentle women are abused and hurt by dangerous husbands every day of the week. By Dr. Lund's accounting, the abused spouse here has responsibility for being abused along with the conflict in the marriage. We all know this is not true. However, this conceptualization gives Dr. Lund the ability to do whatever she wants with the children in her custody recommendation. She can split up brothers and sisters, put children into the dangerous parent's home, or design schedules that are terrible for children. Why would she do this? To appease the law firms she works for and to maximize her earning potential.

Second, Dr. Mary Lund quotes Richard Gardner, an expert on Parental Alienation Syndrome. Gardner recommends different course of action for mild, moderate and severe Parental Alienation. It is interesting that Dr. Lund quotes Gardner here, because she doesn't follow any of his recommendations in practice. Dr. Lund will split families along gender lines, placing boys with their father and girls with their mother, reinforcing the split. Even if children have a close relationship, if Dr. Lund needs to coordinate a custody plan that splits the children up to make the referring law firm happy, she will do so. Dr. Lund also has strong biases, so you never know what will happen in her evaluation. She will place the children primarily in the home of a parent with substance abuse issues or psychiatric issues even when the other spouse is an excellent parent.

Mary Elizabeith Lund is the classic example of someone who cites a lot of scientific literature but has no common sense and is unethical. Dr. Lund can lecture all over the country and ingratiate herself with judges and law firms, but her actions are not good or kind. If you are considering Dr. Lund for a custody evaulation I highly recommend you look elsewhere. Dr. Lund does not have the best interests of the children in mind. She has the best interests of Dr. Lund and her husband Angus Strachan in mind. If you want a $60-80,000 custody evaluation and someone spending hundreds of hours trying to "decide" who is the most "fit" parent when her biases will prevail anyways, you have found the right person. Otherwise, find someone ethical and kind and caring. Not Dr. Lund.