CURRICULUM VITAE OF LENA HELLBLOM SJÖGREN

Mon Mogattu 76
79397 Siljansnäs
Sweden

mail@testimonia.se
http://www.avskildabarn.se
http://www.secludedchildren.se
EDUCATION:

1975 Licensed psychologist after university studies in Lund, Stockholm, and Uppsala.
1985 Ph.D., Stockholm University.
1990-1991 One year post doctorate course in Methods of interpretation and Witness Psychology, Stockholm University.
1996 One year, slow rate course in Introduction to Law with other professionals from different fields, Stockholm University.
2003 One year further education in Modern Diagnoses, Stockholm University.
PROFESSIONAL TRAINING:

1976-1990 School psychologist and researcher about learning (different periods).
1977-1988 Editor of a magazine for professionals and parents on education.
1977-1989 Occasional work as a teacher without formal exam in all school grades including first year of university studies in pedagogics, Stockholm University.
2002-2009 Psychologist in a team working with patients born with brain damage.
1991-2017 Investigative psychologist and researcher in Testimonia.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:

Lena Hellblom Sjögren is a researcher and licensed psychologist since 1975, and practicing since 1991 as an investigative forensic psychologist in her own company called Testimonia. Mostly she undertakes investigations in complicated custody and sexual abuse cases, and after that she is called to present and to answer questions regarding her written statements based on her investigations in court. She is also asked to give witness in general on the topic of separating children without justified cause from a loved and loving parent and influence the children to reject the parent (parents) they have been separated from (parental alienation, PA).

She has acted as a witness in both civil and criminal cases in courts on all levels in Sweden and Norway and occasionally in some other countries. By July 2016, the number of cases she has investigated was well above 250.

Two wide concepts might summarize her investigative work, research, and professional interests: democracy and human rights.

Since the beginning of the 1990’s Lena Hellblom Sjögren´s focus has been on what is now mostly called Parental Alienation. There is a worldwide agreement growing among researchers and practitioners that it can be argued that it is psychological abuse of children to separate them from a parent without justified cause and to influence them to reject that parent. When the child has incorporated the fictive construction of that parent as dangerous or worthless, the child fully rejects that parent and allies totally with the controlling parent. This is the severe form of Parental Alienation, also sometimes called parental alienation syndrome or PAS.

Lena Hellblom Sjögren has experiences as lecturer, writer, researcher, organizer of conferences for exchange of knowledge and experiences regarding children´s and families legal and human rights to family life and how to define and defend the child’s best interests (Nordic in Stockholm 1995, 1996, 1997), followed by a big Nordic and International Conference called ”True or false Memories” at the Stockholm School of Economics in 1998. Prominent lecturers on that conference were: Elisabeth Loftus, Jean La Fontaine, Gisli Gudjonsson, Sherill Mulhern, Campbell Perry (This seminar was arranged by the Foundation for Forensic Psychology and the Nordic Interdisciplinary Forum for Individual Rights in Sexual Abuse Cases and Custody Cases, both in which Lena Hellblom Sjögren was an active member).

In September 2014, Lena Hellblom Sjögren organized a small seminar on Parental Alienation with Elisabeth Loftus (who had been invited to Sweden by other professionals to speak about memory at a trauma conference) and professionals from fields other than psychology.

In April 2015, Lena Hellblom Sjögren organized a seminar for mothers and fathers who miss their children but have lost contact without a justified cause. This initiative has led to further support and contact between the parents and children.

Lena Hellbom Sjögren is currently a member of the board of PASG (Parental Alienation Study Group), and editor for the Nordic countries in the bimonthly magazine of PASG, called PAI – Parental Alienation International, where Stan Korosi, Australia is the chief editor. http://www.pasg.info.
LECTURES WITH REFERENCE TO PARENTAL ALIENATION:

To Investigate reliability in Sexual Abuse Cases. Copenhagen, Denmark. March 1998.
Child Sexual Abuse – The common idea of very high prevalence and some consequences of such a misconception. Krakow.
Incest and Science. Uppsala. 9 November 1998 in a Forum for Ethics in Research.
About suggestibility and that small children are more suggestible than older children. Byleskolan School, Stockholm.
Can alleged sexual abuse be investigated without harming the child? Lahti, Finland. November 2000.
One parent’s alienation of the other parent: PAS – Parental Alienation Syndrome. Copenhagen, Denmark. January 2002.
Making a parent dangerous: PAS in Sweden and Norway. Frankfurt am Main. October 2002.
Research of children’s suggestibility. Copenhagen, Denmark. April 2005.
A dangerous mother or a mother made dangerous through the diagnosis of Munchhausen Syndrome by proxy. Stockholm, Sweden. March 2007 (Swedish Organization for Family Rights).
What do children need most of all? March 2008 (Annual meeting for social workers working with family rights).
How can Parental Alienation be recognized? Folåsa Institution. August 2008.
Parental Alienation, children’s human rights and the best interest of the child. Stockholm, Sweden. October 2008. Stockholm branch of family lawyers.
The psychologist´s contribution and role in custody conflicts. How can the child´s best interests be investigated? Örebro Family Rights Day. November 2008.
The child´s need of both parents. Almedalen, Gotland. July 2009. (Dad-Child Sweden seminar).
Mental abuse on children – when a child is separated from a loved parent and influenced to reject that parent. Kristianstad. April 2010. (Dad-Child Sweden seminar).
What is PAS? Gothenburg. August 2010. (NKMR, the Nordic Committee for Human Rights symposium).
Violation of the child´s legal and human rights to family life in parental alienation cases. Basel. September 2010. EFCAP 2nd International Conference.
Human rights articles, law paragraphs, and case studies. Stockholm, Sweden. November 2010 (seminar of the rights of a child in severe custody conflicts – university course for social workers, Södertörns högskola)
Parental alienation violates the child´s legal and human right to family life. Zaragoza, Spain. March 2011 (3rd International Congress on PAS).
A mother case and a father case of parental alienation, illustrating the violation of the child´s legal right to family life. Stockholm, Sweden. October 2011 (university course Södertörns högskola, for social workers called Law in Social Work).
The child´s right to family life. Stockholm, Sweden. November 2011 (The child in legal society, arranged by Swedish organization Friends of the State of Law).
Children´s right to have their right to family life respected. Oslo, Norway. March 2012 (arranged by a Norwegian organization, Concerned Citizens).
Parental alienation violates the child´s legal and human right to family life. An American-Swedish case study. Amsterdam. July 2013 (International Academy of Law and Mental Health).
The child´s right to keep the family roots. Stockholm, Sweden. March 2015.
Dangerous or made dangerous? Gothenburg. September 2015 (NKMR, the Nordic Committee for Human Rights symposium).
The child´s relationship with both parents after divorce: a right or a privilege? Kaunas, Lithuania, March 2016.
BOOKS, ARTICLES AND RESEARCH MATERIAL RELATING TO PARENTAL ALIENATION:

1994 Psychology and the Rule of Law. April 1994 (educational material gathered for a course for lawyers in Stockholm University).

1994 Is it usual that children are exposed to sexual abuse? Actual Issues on Witness Psychology, a research report from the laboratory of witness psychology, the institution for pedagogics in Stockholm University.

1995 The need for education as personal judgment and the need for accuracy. In Rudvall (Ed.) Education, knowledge, democracy, a friends´ book to Gunnar Bergendal, Studentlitteratur.

1996 Statements from therapists are often given a high weight. Magazine for Psychologists 1996:6-7.

1996 “Repressed memories” do not prove sexual abuse. Magazine for Medical Doctors, volume 93, no 18 1996.
1997 Secrets and Memories. To investigate reliability in sexual abuse cases. Norstedts Juridik, Stockholm 1997.

1997 Deviant or normal? Who judges and with which criteria? In Hellblom, Holgersson (Eds.): Sexual abuse of children – a critical perspective. Fagbokforlaget, Bergen, Norway.

2000 Problems and Sources of Error When Investigating Alleged Child Sexual Abuse. In Forensic Psychology and Law. Traditional Questions and New Ideas, Institute of Forensic Research Publishers, Krakow, Polen.

2000 When suspicion arises. How to judge the reliability of children´s witness statements – and how to avoid falling in the confirmation trap. In Randtorp, J. (Ed.) On the other hand. 10 contributions to the debate on paedophilia, Paedagogisk Medhjaelper Forbund, Copenhagen, Denmark.

2001 Dangerous mother or a mother made dangerous? Swedish magazine for medical doctors 2001 (98): 47.

2001 PM on PAS published on the net by a Swedish organization for parents with visitation rights, translated to Spanish by Kaisa Lindström Villner, Interprete Jurado de Sueco, Madrid.

2002 One parent´s alienation of the other parent: PAS – parental alienation syndrome. Magazine celebrating 25 years by the Danish organization Fathers for Support to Children and Parents.

2003 Making a Parent Dangerous – PAS in Sweden and Norway, Das Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS). I von Boch- Galhau, Kodjoe, Andritzky & Koeppel (ed.): Eine Interdisziplinäre Herausforderung fur scheidungsbegleitende Berufe. Internationale Konferenz, Frankfurt (Main). Oktober 2002.

2003 Children can be brainwashed, text based on an interview by Pihl Thunander in a book called The right to a child, Prisma in collaboration with Swedish Television (a program called Mission Investigation).
2006 PAS in Compulsory Public Custody Conflicts. In Gardner, Sauber, Lorandos (Eds.): The International Handbook of Parental Alienation Syndrome. Conceptual, Clinical and Legal Considerations, Charles C Thomas Publisher, Ltd, Springfield, Illinois, USA.

2007-2008 Psychological abuse of children in the most severe custody conflicts. Magazine for Law Professionals (19):4:986–995.

2008 Does the psychologist have to take notice of PAS? Swedish magazine for psychologists 2008:8.

2012-2013 The child´s right to family life. 25 Swedish case studies of parental alienation. Studentlitteratur Lund 2012, 3V-förlaget Rimbo 2013.

2015 How can the Norwegian child protection services protect the children? Dagsavisen

2016 Review of a book from Routledge called Working with alienated children and familie:. A clinical guidebook. Swedish magazine for social medicine 2016:1.

2016 With professor Eivind Meland, Norwegian Institute of Global Health and Social Medicine. When children are harmed with the best purposes. Norwegian magazine for medical doctors, see http://tidsskriftet.no/2016/09/kommentar-og-debatt/nar-barn-skades-med-de-beste-hensikter.

1991-2017 Expert investigations (Sweden, Norway, occasionally in some other countries) reported in written statements on about 60 pages each after analyzing reports and documents following a timeline where it in a growing number of investigated cases has become evident that children have been separated and influenced to reject a formerly loved parent without any substantiation for such a rejection, but due to being influenced to do so (compare to what has been called ”The Stockholm syndrome”).
RESEARCH PROJECT (2009-2011): IN THE BEST INTEREST OF THE CHILD AND THE CHILD’S HUMAN RIGHTS:

Analysis of 60 high conflict separation cases between 1990 and 2010, in which it was identified:
A child´s sudden and implacable fear or hostility towards a formerly loved parent that the child had been separated from;
That the formerly loved parent had not used violence or sexually abused the child or someone else in the family, which could explain the child’s fear or hostile behavior;
That a parental part (a parent or social services with parental authority) had influenced the child, in action and in words, to oppose or reject contact with the parent the child had been separated from
Scholarship from a private foundation in Sweden, Torsten Söderbergs Foundation.
The following 5 general questions were analyzed in the 60 identified cases of parental alienation:

Have efforts been made to help the child have a close and good contact with both parents?
Have the risks for the child to be abused, unlawfully abducted or kept (nationally and internationally) or otherwise be maltreated, been investigated according to what is required by Swedish fundamental law, that is impartially and in a matter of fact way?
Has the child´s right to family life been respected?
Has the child´s right to keep his/her identity been respected?
Has the child had the opportunity to freely speak his/her mind (article 12 in the UN convention on The Rights of the Child)?

THE ANSWER FOUND ON ALL FIVE QUESTIONS WAS NO.