Introduction

I'm a gifted adult survivor of child abuse by my adopted parents, who left me with chronic depression, PTSD, and a touch of autism for good measure. Here I examine the fragments of my past. It's enlightening but not pleasant. You've been warned.

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Thursday, October 24, 2013

Paul Sunderland Lectures on the Neurological Effects of Adoption Trauma

A British addiction counselor talks about the characteristics of his adoptee clients.  Wow.  While I somehow dodged the bullet on addictions (except to science fiction and comic books, read Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay for more about that) the rest of it fits only too well.

I especially like his emphasis that in this case a life-threatening trauma happens at such a young age that there's no pre-trauma personality to draw on and no cognitive thinking to mitigate it.  I've had so many people tell me, "Why don't you just calm down and get back to normal?" without understanding that there is no normal for me to return to.



ETA:  the video doesn't always pull up as fast as I'd like, so here's the direct link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3pX4C-mtiI
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