When there's no place like home: Heidegger, hermeneutics, and the narratives of adopted adolescents

Numerous studies have demonstrated that adopted persons, and in particular adolescents, are over-represented in psychotherapeutic treatment settings. Traditionally, clinical approaches to the treatment of distressed adopted persons have focused on largely decontextualized intrapsychic or familial concerns such as attachment issues, the formation of a self-concept and identity, or failures in navigating developmental stages.; From the point of view of ontological hermeneutics, psychological categories fall short of addressing broader cultural and philosophical dimensions, such as the experience of not "being-at-home-in-the-world," a sense of alienation and insecurity in regard to taken-for-granted aspects of one's ordinary reality, and the impact of these factors on adoptees' sense of self, emotional state, and behavioral difficulties. This study examined the narratives of adopted adolescents and utilized Heidegger's hermeneutics to interpret their concerns and to generate new insights for clinical work with troubled adolescent adoptees.; Eleven adolescent adoptees were interviewed using a semi-structured interview schedule. Of these participants, 7 were in psychotherapy and 4 had never received significant treatment. Each participant's discourse was examined for salient themes, and interpreted using Heidegger's hermeneutic analysis of existential anxiety, and of human Being in general. The relationship of these themes to the concerns, distress, and symptoms of adoptees was discussed.; The findings included a number of important themes, of which three in particular were related to the adoptees' distress when experienced. These themes were (a) a sense of "homelessness," (b) an experience of being different, not belonging, or of having fallen "out of everydayness," and (c) a profound estrangement from generally taken-for-granted realities such as the security of parental relationships. As a result of these themes or issues, participants, particularly those involved in treatment, often felt anxious, ungrounded, and unworthy, and reported engaging in self-destructive behaviors.; Based on these themes, potential interventions were discussed that accounted for the larger philosophical concerns of troubled adolescent adoptees, as well as their interaction with cultural dialogues about the self and confrontations with mainstream psychological prescriptions for becoming a person. In general, these interventions focused on strengthening adoptees' interpretive and philosophical faculties, and on increasing their tolerance of complexity and ambiguity.