Resources

Late Discovery of Biological Identity

Discovering that your biological identity is different from what you had thought is a painful and traumatic experience. Learning about the experiences of others who’ve gone through something similar can help. There is neither much research on the experiences of late discoverers nor many resources to support us, but here is a starting point:

“Why Wasn’t I Told? Making Sense of the Late Discovery of Adoption,”  The Benevolent Society, May 2000

Facebook group for late discoverers

Latediscoveryadoptees.com

Severance, a magazine/community for people who’ve been separated from biological family or have had surprising DNA test results.

Mental Health

Finding ways to support someone with depression or borderline personality disorder is not always easy. Here are some sites that might help:

Borderlinepersonalitydisorder.org

National Alliance on Mental Illness: Borderline Personality Disorder

Mayo Clinic: Depression

Expressive Writing

What’s called “expressive writing”–writing about thoughts or feelings that are weighing on us–can lead to psychological and physical health benefits. In fact, a 2006 meta-analysis of 146 expressive writing experiments confirmed improvements, such as reductions in distress, depression, anger and anxiety, and enhancements in life satisfaction. Here’s where you can learn more:

Writing and Health