The Adopted Child Syndrome:: Considerations for Psychotherapy

A high incidence of conduct disorders has long been observed in adoptees seen clinically. The Adopted Child Syndrome will be described and explained psychodynamically in the context of the psychology of adoption. Among the special therapeutic considerations discussed are the widespread professional failure to address adoption as a therapeutic issue; the birth parent transference; the "Daddy Warbucks' countertransference;. the "bad seed" fantasy; the all-good and all-bad parental split images; working with unique problems of identity and self-image in adoptees; and parental denial and resistance.