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The Emotional Experience of Adoption: A Psychoanalytic Perspective

Editor : Debbie Hindle, Editor : Graham Shulman

Reviews and Endorsements

'An interesting, informative and enjoyable read, the volume conveys core psychoanalytic ideas relevant to adoption and insights into therapeutic processes in a very vivid and accessible fashion.'
- Professor Malcolm Hill, Glasgow School of Social Work, UK

'Focusing on the trauma experienced by most adopted children prior to being taken into care, this book conveys the damage these children have sustained and the impact of this on their new family and the professionals involved. Psychoanalytic ideas both help understanding and provide a means of amelioration by offering treatment possibilities and a consultation framework. An accessible but painful book to read.'
- Judith Trowell, Professor of Child Mental Health, West Midlands Care Service Improvement Partnership and University of Worcester, UK

Contents: Part I: Setting the Scene 1. Developing a curiosity about adoption: a psychoanalytic perspective," John Simmonds "2. Why is early development important?," Sally Wassell "3. Understanding an adopted child: a child psychotherapist's perspective," Lisa Miller "Part II: Unconscious Dynamics in Systems and Networks 4. Multiple families in mind," Margaret Rustin "5. Enabling effective support: secondary traumatic stress and adoptive families," Kate Cairns "6. The network around adoption: the forever family and the ghosts of the dispossessed," Jenny Sprince "Part III: Primitive States of Mind and their Impact on Relationships 7. The mermaid: moving towards reality after trauma," Caroline Case "8. On being dropped and picked up: the plight of some late-adopted children," Judith Edwards "Part IV: Belonging and Becoming: Transitions 9. Playing out, not acting out: the development of the capacity to play in the therapy of children who are 'in transition' from fostering to adoption," Monica Lanyado "10. Just pretend: the importance of symbolic play and its interpretation in intensive psychotherapy with a four year-old adopted boy, "Francesca Calvocoressi "11. The longing to become a family: support for the parental couple," Molly Ludlam "12. Shared reflections on parallel collaborative work with adoptive families," Francesca Calvocoressi and Molly Ludlam "Part V: Being Part of a Family: Oedipal Issues 13. Loss, recovery and adoption: a child's perspective," Debbie Hindle "14. Oedipal difficulties in the triangular relationship between the parents, the child and the child psychotherapist," Pamela Bartram "Part VI: Adoption and Adolescence: the Question of Identity 15. Deprivation and development: the predicament of an adopted adolescent in the search for identity," Tessa Dalley and Valli Kohon "16. Idealisation and overvalued ideas, "Sheila Spensley "Further Reflections 17. A cautionary tale of adoption: fictional lives and living fictions," Graham Shulman "Final Thoughts