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Summary: Essential for Understanding Effects of Adoption
Review: "The Primal Wound" is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the profound effect adoption has on the relinquished and adopted person. As a mother who relinquished my first born, it was difficult to learn that my baby suffered as much or more than I did when we were separated. Verrier's courageous insights have helped me understand my adult daughter and the continual challenges she faces as an adopted person. This book, along with "Journey of the Adopted Self" by Betty Jean Lifton, are the two most significant current pieces of adoption literature.When I shared this book with my daughter's adoptive mother, she said that she wished she had had this information when she and her husband first adopted. Since then she has purchased several copies as gifts for other families involved in adoption.
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Summary: Must read for all in the Triad
Review: A groundbreaking work, presenting the state of mind of those who have been separated at birth from their mothers. A must read for anyone in the Adoption Triad and any professionals dealing with adoptees. This book is the first real view of what it feels like to be adopted. As an adoptee who was reunited in 1984, I found this book the first validation of my feelings. I've found family therapists nationwide who have said that Ms. Verrier's work gave them real insight in dealing with their adoptee patients....END
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Summary: Adoptees- You need to read this book! It changed my Life!
Review: Anyone who is an adoptee or thinking about adopting a child NEEDS to read this book! I was born to a birthmother who never wanted me! I was told to read this book by a friend and I was affected so much by this book I bought three copies. I finally understood what I was feeling all my life about not being wanted. I have also heared Mrs. Verrier in person and she was wonderful. I highly recommend this book to adoptees who felt alone all their lives & anyone who is going to adopt a child. This book will help you with any problems that might come up in your child's life. If you are adopted this book will change your life! Read & enjoy! :-)
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Summary: Trying to Empathize
Review: As a close friend of several adoptees, I read this book in an attempt to understand their feelings, behaviors and actions. Much of it is explained in The Primal Wound ... and accurately in my opinion. However, I was left still wanting more. I am helping a friend initiate contact with her birth mom and the book did little to address the complexity involved with re-connecting two very separate people. Once the person is found, where do you begin? What is that initial visit like? How does the healing occur after the reunion? How do you help an adoptee or birthmother process the feelings they are having during and right before a reunion? I'm still searching for a good book that will address these issues ... So, I would definitely recommend The Primal Wound to anyone who wants to understand an adoptee. However, if you are looking for information related to issues that are raised during the reunion process, you may be better served elsewhere. I must admit during portions of this book I was literally in tears thinking about the feelings of the birthmom when she hands over her newborn child. Talk about traumatizing!
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Summary: A gross generalization of the adoptee mentality
Review: As an adopted person who found her birth family after years of searching, I found Verrier's book very narrow and not especially applicable to me. I, and I imagine many other adoptees, feel that the wounds inflicted by spending my first 9 months in the body of an unwilling host finally began to heel in the loving arms of my adoptive parents. More time with my overburdened biological parents may have damaged me beyond repair. Her book should be hailed as an honest account of one woman's effort to understand the the emotional turmoil of her adopted daughter, and not as reflection of how all relinquished children and their adoptive parents feel. In short, for many of us the wound was formed early on. The separation from our birth parents was the beginning of the healing process, not the source of our pain.
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Summary: A "must read" for all....
Review: As an adoptee, I could not have written this book better myself. It is an extremely insightful book which opened up a world of understanding to myself and also to my loved ones. It helped me understand why I am the way that I am, why I do some of the things that I do, why I struggle with love in my life, and why I have this subconscious fear of abandonment and trust. This book is a definite "must read" for all parents of adopted children. I know that as a parent you will resist believing in the Primal Wound but you must for the benefit of your children. You will learn to understand your adopted children and will be able to help them throughout their lives - sometimes even in the smallest way, i.e. the simple reassurance that you WILL return home after work. I met my birth family at 30 years old. Then I read this book a few years later. This book made a difference in my life. It will make a difference in your life, too. Enjoy! Thank you Nancy Newton Verrier!!
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Summary: A very powerful book.
Review: As an adoptee, I received this book from a support group member, and, be forewarned-it will open wounds, but it will also help heal those same wounds. This is a very powerful, moving book. It addressed many issues I faced as an adoptee, brought many tears, but also helped me move past alot of the pain and anger I was being held back with. Definitely a must-read for anyone in the adoption triangle!
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Summary: Words cannot express the value of this book.
Review: As an adoptee, reading this book has been the absolute best thing in my life. It is essential reading for any party of the wonderful yet severely misunderstood process of adoption.
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Summary: A sterling book about the impact of the adoption experience.
Review: As an adoptee, The Primal Wound validates and normalizes feelings I have had all my life. It should be read by all adoptive and birth parents to give them insight into their children's feelings and behavior. As a professional dealing with PTSD issues, this book is a must. If you read only one book about adoption, this is the one to read.
Marianne Dickerman Caldwell, author of GONE WITHOUT A TRACE, (1995)
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Summary: Best book on adoptees ever written, its a 5 star!!!!
Review: As one who has worked intimately with adoptees for 20 plus yrs, as well as being one myself this is by far the most truthful work ever done about the true feelings the adoptee has surrounding their relinquishment and loss. A Must READ!!!
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