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March 18, 1985. PANEL: A CHILD ANALYTIC TERMINATION WITH AN ADOPTED CHILD. Roy K. Lilleskov, M.D., Moderator, Robert J. Berlin, M.D., Stephen K. Firestein, M.D., and Martin A. Silverman, M.D.
Dr. Robert Berlin presented clinical material on the termination of the analysis of an eight-year-old adopted boy, B., who experienced conflicts in termination quite like those occasioned by having learned that he was adopted. B. had been adopted at the age of three months. When he entered analysis, his problems included inhibition of aggression, panphobic trends, infantilism, and gender conflicts. Analysis accorded B. significant progress in internal reorganization and phase progression, greater flexibility in toleration of impulses, and stronger masculine and age-appropriate wishes. Termination, however, brought with it the appearance of new conflictual material; for example, negative oedipal and preoedipal conflicts such as the desire for and fear of being reunited with his birth-mother in a sadomasochistic