Rejection Sensitivity and Dissociation Among Adopted Adults

Many theorists posit that the difficulties adopted people experience arise from reflection on what it means to be adopted, while some adopted people assert that the transition from biological parent to adopted family is experienced as a traumatic loss of an attachment relationship. Pinning down the relevant conscious and sub-conscious experiences of adopted infants and young children is difficult to do. Still, in order for adopted people to understand impulses and govern behaviors which may stem from feelings associated with the loss of early attachment relationships, it is helpful to peruse the relevant scientific literature. This study examines domestic and international adoption as well as foster care, and how dissociation and rejection sensitivity relate to the traumatic experience of loss and the reflective internalization of that experience. Adopted people can decide for themselves whether or not these tendencies are to be found among their repertoire of behaviors.

Amy's adoption was something she always seemed to know, even though she was adopted at 6 days old. This and various other factors led her to wonder how she and other adopted people may be affected by early attachment loss, and how that loss might be reconciled within subsequent attachment relationships. Her process of discovery was elucidated by Kurt Baker whose guidance lent clarity, wisdom, and integrity to the manuscript.