Cravings

Our presenter, Lucy Hill, was born in the early 1960s in a mother and baby home and was relinquished by her mother at the age of two months.  On seeking treatment for a 10-year history of chronic back pain, she engaged a psychoanalyst who specializes in treating chronic pain from a relational, trauma-informed perspective.  At the outset, she experienced “craving” for her analyst, similar to yearnings she had for alcohol and sugar.  Exploration of this desire for body contact with her analyst, led her to initiate a successful search for her birth mother.  Their reunion revealed the complexities of the disrupted early attachment, and it stimulated latent grieving for the loss of mother.

Lucy and her analyst will present the adoptee’s perspective as it unfolded in the safe holding space of psychoanalysis.  Commentary by a neonatologist and pediatrician will elaborate the optimal conditions for mother and baby during pregnancy and discuss the impact on the baby after birth and relinquishment.

We acknowledge that adoption arrangements have changed a great deal since Lucy was adopted in 1962 in London, UK.  There are birth mothers, now called First Mothers by some, surrogate mothers, carrying mothers.   We welcome women, men, and gender non-conforming parents, clients and therapists to join us to learn more about cycles of addiction and chronic pain in cases where there has been early separation.