The Unseen Emotional Anatomy of An Adoptee

http://sherrieeldridge.blogspot.com

"I wish I could see inside my daughter's heart to know what she's thinking and feeling."

 

MRI of an Adoptee

• COUNTENANCE: flat affect, no expression (“I am numb inside from trying to survive.”)

• MIND: interprets life through a lens of rejection (“She didn’t call me back. She doesn’t like me. She’s rejecting me.”)

• EMOTIONS: traumatized by severing from birth mother and anxious about future loss, hyper-vigilant (“I’m always anxious, but don’t know why.”)

• EYES: avoids eye contact with others (“I can stay in control if I don’t look at them.”)

• EARS: deaf to the loving comments of others (“I don’t know how love feels.”)

• MOUTH: spews misplaced angry words (“I hate you, mom!”)

• SPIRIT: fears being forgotten by God (“Will God forget me, like my birth mother?”)

• STOMACH: eating issues (“I can stay in control of what seems uncontrollable, if I don’t eat”).

• SHOULDERS: stooped over (“I am a victim. My life is a mistake.”)

• LIPS: smiling (“I’d better be on my best behavior so I don’t get rejected again.”}

• HANDS: shoplifting (“I can make up for what I lost.”)

• BODY TEMPERATURE: high on birthdays (“I am perfectly healthy but on my birthday, I have a 102 degree fever.”)

• BODY: tense (“Don’t touch me!”)

• SKIN: bruised (“Racism is so hard to deal with.”)

• FEET: calloused (“I feel like running away whenever I get upset.”)