Carlini Institute for Therapy, Research and Transpersonal Education

Adoption Trauma Imprints in Natural Mothers

©Heather Carlini 2009

The following is a page from the Adoption Reunion Coaching Course taught by the Carlini Institute.

Adoption trauma is an input into the system which is more than one can accept and integrate.  This is even more prevalent in adoptions that happened back in the 40’s, 50’s, 60’s and 70’s.  The natural mother wasn’t permitted to grieve naturally, so the experience was treated as a non-event by her family and society.  She then gated the experience away and stored her suffering on a subconscious level.  Adoption in the past caused the natural mother to fragment herself on many levels.  One part of her becomes locked in suspension on an inner level, and another side of her finds a way to go on in spite of her pain.

Part of her adoption trauma becomes unfelt and held in the memory bank, which becomes a continuous energy drain on the body as it takes considerable energy to keep this memory locked away on a subconscious level. Adoption trauma imprints contain both the memory of the event, and the encoded record of the feelings associated with it in the cellular memories.

Our minds can hold detailed memories of painful events walled off without being able to access them on a conscious level.  I have seen how this happens with clients while in hypnosis.  My clients can access almost any memory while in an altered sate of consciousness, and this makes it easier to heal the past when we go back to the timeline where the memory was imprinted in order to release its energetic charge.  I find this works far better than using only talk therapy, which sometimes creates more neuropathways for the painful memory, and this is counter-productive to healing the past.  I once did therapy with a natural mom who had gone to therapist to work on her anger before she came to me for help.  She had spend thousands of dollars over a five year period with the other therapist,  and all she succeeded in doing was to become more angry because talking about it ,and not releasing it, only intensified the anger. This also created an anxiety disorder and panic attacks. In one session I was able to finish up the work her other therapist started by helping her process the past event energetically, and by bringing closure to her pain as we reframed the past. Adoption trauma memories need to be processed and released on an energy level also to calm down the sympathetic nervous system.

Imprinted adoption trauma leaves a “trace” where certain nerve networks become “grooved” so that they interact more reality with one another.  Therefore, messages will travel along those nerve pathways with greater facility.  For instance, the natural mother who had to relinquish her child against her will years ago may overreact to the sound of a baby crying in the present. (This is why the natural mother may chose not to have other children — as the cry of another baby may wake up the pain of separation from her baby since it is a “trigger reaction.”)  Her emotions begin to roller coaster and she experiences pain, or other symptoms in the body caused by the non-conscious immune system.  What is happening is that she is reacting in the present while responding to her past. This is the mind/body connection to this stored trauma.

Adoption trauma imprints can last a lifetime until they have a way to be processed and released.  If you are a natural mother needing counselling please email me at and I will get back to you.  I work with  clients all over North America and the UK by phone.  The long distance charges are on my bill. 

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