GSA is a phenomenon of familial bonding that has been delayed until adulthood.
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Planning A Reunion
Understanding GSA and gathering support is your best ally to a long term relationship with your reunited family member.
Some reunited family members do not experience GSA, but their newly found blood relative may have unrequited GSA feelings towards them.
Other family members are significantly affected by GSA including, parents, spouses, siblings and children.
Know About GSA Before Reuniting
It helps to know that GSA can occur and to be aware of these feelings before the family members reunite.
Reunions affect the whole family system. So does GSA.
Reunions are a complicated matter. When an individual meets a blood family relative that has been unknown all (or the majority) of one's life, the emotions experienced are complex and emotional. To best support those who are reuniting with loved ones, it is important to be prepared for the vastly different scenarios that can occur. Anticipation, excitement, emotional angst, confusion of self, additional rejection, and feelings of desire to connect deeply; are all different facets of the same experience that may happen simultaneously in a reunion.
Genetic Sexual Attraction may be experienced and felt by one or more members in
the family system. An adopted daughter may seek to find her biological mother, only
to find out she has a lost half-
GSA is becoming increasingly acknowledged and noted to be a more common feature than previously realized in reunions between blood relatives who have never before met.
In an article called The Guardian, “The unexpectedly high number of reported cases
of men and women struggling with sudden and terrifying emotions after a reunion has
surprised and perplexed most post-
How does one prepare for such a phenomenon?
First and foremost, one needs to first acknowledge that this can happen. No one chooses to fall in love and have sexual desires for a reunited family member; yet it is a normal response to an extreme emotional situation. It is a primordial need to experience deep connection or an urge of intimacy that was previously denied. The emotions overwhelms an individual and creates a yearning to bond as nature has always intended. The experience however is happening "out of sequence" and does not fit easily in a simple context of brother and sister, father and daughter, or mother and son.
Providing information and tools before and at the onset of GSA can significantly decrease the devastating affects this attraction potentially has for the reunited family members and the whole family system. Building towards a normal balanced family relationship can be the one of the best allies for the GSA phenomenon. Knowingly, the outcome of adult sexual relations between reunited relatives is that any subsequent lasting relationship, platonic or otherwise fails.
Building a normal relationship with your own flesh and blood that is compounded by genetic sexual attraction is going to be excruciating and painful, exhausting and perplexing due to the overwhelming desires to be intimate.
Learning How to Bond with GSA without Being Sexual
The potential consequences of exploring a sexual relationship with a blood family member far out way reasons to be intimate. Therefore, additional support, mentorship and materials is available for those who unwillingly find themselves in the throes of GSA.
Reaching out to a mentor to find information, education, and compassion can help significantly to those who experience GSA.
