Abstract

In Italy the Social and Health Services have seen an increase in the number of reports of adoptive families in crisis. The reports involve teenagers adopted mostly from Eastern Europe in the early 90s who have experienced significant mental suffering. Through a case study of Family Psychoanalytic Therapy the authors analyze the specific qualities of the adoptive link as an original and specific version of the filial and consanguine link. The hypothesis put forward is that the adoptive family has its syncretic foundation in a “link of alienness” and that processing this link becomes central to resolving the family crisis. The authors highlight the central stages of the analytical process through the interpretation of dreams and incidences of transference/counter-transference which prove to be significant aspects of the family group process.

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