Stages of emotion: an adult adoptee's postreunion perspective

Increasing numbers of adoptees are searching for and finding their biological parents. This article is an attempt to alert counselors to the particular emotional state of adoptees postreunion. The theory presented is drawn from the author's personal experience and integrated with her perspectiv...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Child welfare 1994-05, Vol.73 (3), p.249-260
Main Author: Moran, R.A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adopted Children
Adopted people
Adoption
Adoption - psychology
Adult
Adult Children
Adults
Alcoholism
Biological Parents
case studies
Counselors
Emotional aspects
Emotional Experience
Emotional Response
Emotions
Family
Family (Sociological Unit)
Family counseling
Family Relations
Fantasy
Fathers
Fear
Female
Grief
History of medicine
History, 20th Century
Humans
Moran
Mother-Child Relations
Mothers
Natural families
natural parents
Parent Child Relations
Parents
PRACTICE FORUM
R A Moran
Reunion
Reunions
Siblings
USA
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Increasing numbers of adoptees are searching for and finding their biological parents. This article is an attempt to alert counselors to the particular emotional state of adoptees postreunion. The theory presented is drawn from the author's personal experience and integrated with her perspective as a professional counselor. From these two vantage points, the author has concluded that there are four postreunion emotional stages: paralysis, eruption, loss and grief, and empowerment. Three factors have a direct bearing on the four stages: definition of reunion success, when reunion occurs, and the "female factor."
ISSN:0009-4021