The Emotional Experience of Adoption: A Psychoanalytic Perspective
Book Details
- Publisher : Routledge
- Published : January 2008
- Cover : Paperback
- Category :
Child and Adolescent Studies - Catalogue No : 26264
- ISBN 13 : 9780415372763
- ISBN 10 : 0415372763
Also by Debbie Hindle
Also by Graham Shulman
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Adoption is an extremely complex and emotionally demanding process for all those involved. This book explores the emotional experience of adoption from a psychoanalytic perspective, and demonstrates how psychoanalytic understanding and treatment can contribute to thinking about and working with adopted children and their families. Drawing on psychoanalytic, attachment and child development theory, and detailed in-depth clinical case discussion, The Emotional Experience of Adoption explores issues such as: the emotional experience of children placed for adoption, and how this both shapes and is shaped by unconscious processes in the child's inner world; how psychoanalytic child psychotherapy can help as a distinctive source of understanding and as a treatment for children who are either in the process of being adopted or already adopted; and, how such understanding can inform planning and decision making amongst professionals and careers. The Emotional Experience of Adoption explains and accounts for the emotional and psychological complexities involved for child, parents and professionals in adoption. It will be of interest and relevance to anyone involved at a personal level in the adoption process or professionals working in the fields of adoption, social work, child mental health, foster care and family support.
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
About the Editor(s)
Debbie Hindle is a Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist. She was Head of the Clinical Training in Child Psychotherapy at the Scottish Institute of Human Relations in Edinburgh and worked clinically in a specialist Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service in Glasgow for children who were fostered or adopted. She has published extensively.
Graham Shulman works for NHS Lanarkshire as a Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist. He trained at the Tavistock Clinic in London. He has been involved for many years as a tutor on the Scottish Child Psychotherapy training and has also taught Infant Observation. He is a former Editor of the Journal of Child Psychotherapy and was joint editor and contributor to the book The Emotional Experience of Adoption: A Psychoanalytic Perspective, published in 2008.
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