Psychoanalysis.  2014 Oct;25(2):71-79. 10.0000/pa.2014.25.2.71.

The Psychodynamics of Adoptees and Adoptive Parents: From 'Fats' in the Novel 'Casual Vacancy'

• Bahn GH
• Oh MA
• Oh SH

• KMID: 1910491
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.0000/pa.2014.25.2.71

Abstract

Adoption is giving rights and responsibility of parents and children to biologically unrelated parents and children through a legal procedure. Increase in the number of adoptive families is followed by increased chances of running into problems related with adoption in the psychiatric practice. There are many tasks for them to solve: grief reaction through feeling of loss for not only the adoptees but also the biological and adoptive parents, developing attachment between the adoptive parents and adoptees, and establishing desirable identity of the adopted children, especially in the adolescence. In this study we examined various considerations related with adoption, and analyzed the psychology and conflicts of the adoptee and adoptive parents. The subject of analysis was 'Fats', an adoptee in Joan Rowling's novel 'Casual Vacancy' on 2012. Fats and his father, who is a high school teacher suffering from obsessive compulsive disorder, failed to develop an appropriate attachment. As Fats reached high school, he started having problems such as smoking cigarettes, marijuana, having sex with his girlfriend and bullying. Adoptees and their families have a different start from conventional families. In order to become a true family, adoptees and the adoptive parents must go through their own 'gestational period'. The adoptees need the establishment of the relationship with their adoptive and birth parents, respectively. If they show deviant behaviors in their adolescent period, the relevance with adoption must be comprehended. The identity issue is a new challenge for the triad: adoptees, adoptive parents, and birth parents and also the psychotherapists.

Keyword

Adoption; Deviation; Behavior; Attachment; Psychotherapy

MeSH Terms

Adolescent
Bullying
Cannabis
Child
Fathers
Fats
Grief
Human Rights
Humans
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Parents*
Parturition
Psychology
Psychotherapy
Running
Smoke
Smoking
Tobacco Products
Fats
Smoke