As a professional with adoption knowledge and experience, I can help families identify connections between problems and adoption and plan effective treatment strategies.

Sometimes a difficulty that someone is experiencing can be directly linked to adoption, but sometimes the connection is not readily apparent. In other situations, issues that seem on the surface to be related to adoption turn out not to be at all. I understand that although the adoptive family is often not the source of someone's problems, it will be within the context of the adoptive family relationships that the healing begins. Approaches to Therapy

The type of treatment or the combination of treatments chosen may depend on the type and severity of the presenting issue, the age and developmental level of the client, and even the experience and preferences of the professional and family.

A Word About Attachment

Many of us who have been adopted as children experience problems that may be the result of breaks in attachment that occurred during the first few years of life. These problems impair, sometimes severely, our ability to trust and bond - to attach - to other human beings. Children who have experienced maltreatment or traumatic separations may be hesitant to trust others enough to attach quickly or easily. Sometimes we carry this into adulthood.

Attachment can be viewed as a continuum, with healthy attachment at one end and attachment disorder at the other. Signs of attachment problems can vary. Milder signs can be something like poor boundaries, anxiety and depression, whereas more servere problems include lack of conscience and lack of cause-and-effect thinking.

The focus of any attachment therapy should be to foster the ability to build a secure emotional attachment between the client and others.The basis of attachment therapy is that the development of a trusting attachment relationship will provide the security essential to healing the psychological, emotional, and behavioral issues that may have developed as a result of earlier disruptions and trauma. These issues may include posttraumatic stress disorder, grief and loss, depression, and anxiety.

There are a number of other types of therapies, as well as variations of therapies, that can be useful. These may include art therapy, music therapy, and couples therapy.