NCJ Number
140413
Journal
International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology Volume: 36 Issue: 4 Dated: (Winter 1992) Pages: 323-333
Date Published
1992
Length
11 pages
Annotation
Adoption is a critical factor in the psychopathology of many adopted killers, yet one that is often overlooked.
Abstract
Three cases of patricide by adoptees are examined in light of a unique pattern of psychopathology, the Adopted Child Syndrome. In this syndrome, an aspect of the self, experienced as bad and usually identified with the fantasized biological parents, is dissociated. This dissociated part of the self may erupt in murderous violence against the adoptive parents and others under conditions of loss or rejection. In addition to violence, antisocial conduct of adopted children and adolescents includes pathological lying, stealing, truancy, underachievement, firesetting, promiscuity, running away, and learning problems. Adopted children tend to direct their provocations and disruptions against parents, teachers, and other authorities. While antisocial behaviors are often characteristic of children and adolescents generally, adopted children have a paradoxical identity; they are both of the adoptive family and different from it. In a family climate of anxiety and denial where children feel threatened, they will suffer severe impediments to achieving a positive, coherent self-image and a mature superego. Those suffering from the Adopted Child Syndrome are especially prone to dissociation and to multiple personality disorder in extreme cases. 34 references