Duplicity and illusion in families formed by international adoption
Summary
“Duplicity and illusion in international adoption.” New family compositions created by international adoption grow hand in hand with globalization. Beyond the socio-economic or political implications, the author focuses on the psychological processes at work in these families. Duality of countries, cultures and families, associated with the intensity of the needs and demands involved, induce multiple distortions of reality promoting deception. In the light of two examples of international adoption, one drawn from literature, the other from a psychoanalytic family therapy, he studies the emergence of fantasies and representations in connection with deception and mystification. Considering their hidden effects detrimental to the creation of new links and of respect for vestigial links, he argues that the implementation of a TFP contributes to redevelopment in the psychic space of the family envelope in formation. In this therapeutic setting, where a vast psychic work occurs, defenses will soften and give way to a more cohesive group illusion. In conclusion, the author considers that, in many ways, this kind of family is a paragon of “new families” and of the pitfalls that threaten them.
