Issues when treating adopted children and the work with their parents
Gammill, James
Issues when treating adopted children and the work with their parents - 2022.
23
Child adoption inevitably brings about one or several precocious ruptures in the infant’s relationships with his/her primal objects of attachment (biological mother, nursery staff, foster mother). These ruptures favor mechanisms of splitting in relation to the maternal imagos, which the psychotherapist has to take into account in the transference and not assign to the actual history of the infant. It is the psychic reality that has to be dealt with and not the historical reality. At the same time, child adoption gives rise to fantasies, sometimes violent, in the adoptive parents, who often suffer from sterility, and who sometimes have the impression that they have stolen a child, which produces feelings of guilt. It is essential to support adoptive parents throughout the psychotherapy to prevent these fantasies becoming a pretext for a premature break in the treatment.
Issues when treating adopted children and the work with their parents - 2022.
23
Child adoption inevitably brings about one or several precocious ruptures in the infant’s relationships with his/her primal objects of attachment (biological mother, nursery staff, foster mother). These ruptures favor mechanisms of splitting in relation to the maternal imagos, which the psychotherapist has to take into account in the transference and not assign to the actual history of the infant. It is the psychic reality that has to be dealt with and not the historical reality. At the same time, child adoption gives rise to fantasies, sometimes violent, in the adoptive parents, who often suffer from sterility, and who sometimes have the impression that they have stolen a child, which produces feelings of guilt. It is essential to support adoptive parents throughout the psychotherapy to prevent these fantasies becoming a pretext for a premature break in the treatment.
Réseaux sociaux