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In this lecture\, Shirley Liao
\, PhD\, FIPA will share a paper presented as part
of a panel presentation at IPA Asia Pacific 2026
conference. In an era marked by political unrest\,
environmental collapse\, and digital oversaturati
on\, this presentation will offer a closer look at
the transnational phenomenon of "parachute kids"
that emerged in the 1980s and continues—from Asia
to the West\, particularly to the U.S. Often\, the
se minors who are sent abroad alone in the name of
seeking educational opportunities\, consciously a
nd unconsciously carry their parental fantasy abou
t life in the U.S. and the responsibility to fulfi
ll the parents' narcissistic expectations for thei
r children to achieve dreams and wishes that they
did not realize. Many of these kids carry into the
ir adulthood both intra- and interpsychic/racial t
ension\, isolation\, and dissociation (Eng & Han\,
2018). The vulnerability of young age while havin
g no available "good enough" parental object can o
ften render parachute kids' adjustment into the U.
S. culture traumatic for a fragile and budding sel
f (Brady\, 2015). Narcissistic defense can easily
become the default mechanism to survive and accomm
odate to the undue external pressure and internal
experience of aloneness\, parental abandonment\, a
nd racial displacement (Brandchaft\, 2007). Undern
eath the "soft belly" of this narcissistic coping
is a tremendous amount of shame. The presenter wil
l offer a unique theoretical formulation of the se
lf-experiences of the "parachute kids" who often s
truggle with profound invisibility. A trauma-infor
med\, relational/intersubjective approach that int
egrates the body into psychoanalytic practice will
be discussed for the participants to apply to the
ir own clinical work.
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