Adoption and Addiction
Adoption and Addiction - Full Lecture
There is a high incidence of addiction amongst adoptees.
This lecture draws upon the clinical experience and information from the fields of Attachment Theory and Traumatology, to explore the particular difficulties in recovery for adoptees and those with early life cycle trauma.
Exploring the hypothesis on the adoption wound being particularly powerful and enduring, Paul Sunderland proposes that adopted clients suffer from co-occurring disorders of both addiction and post traumatic stress disorder.
View the full hour long lecture >
There is a high incidence of addiction amongst adoptees
This lecture will draw on the clinical experience and information from the fields of Attachment Theory and Traumatology, to explore the particular difficulties in recovery for adoptees and those with early life cycle trauma.
The hypothesis is that the adoption wound is particularly powerful and enduring because it is a pre-verbal trauma that is stored in implicit memory systems rather than in explicit memory. The effects of adoption can also be passed down through generations, making people affected vulnerable around issues of belonging and abandonment.
For the addicted adoptee, the hunger for attachment to a person, mood altering chemical or compulsive behaviour requires particular explanation, consideration and treatment. Paul proposes that it may be helpful to think about these clients as suffering from co-occurring disorders of both addiction and post traumatic stress disorder.
