Psychiatric Problems Of Adopted Persons

Mental health experts disagree among themselves on whether adopted persons evince a greater level of mental illness than non-adopted persons. Vastly differing percentages of adopted persons in the institutionalized population have been reported, ranging from 5% to as high as 25% or more, depending on which study is used.

Many adoptive parents enjoy a higher socioeconomic level than the average person and can thus afford psychiatric treatment, both inpatient and outpatient. (And also may have insurance coverage for such treatment.) Another issue is an element of the self-fulfilling prophecy among those seeking psychiatric help for their children, i.e., if an adopted child seems to be having emotional difficulties, then adoptive parents might seek psychiatric help specifically because of a presumption that adopted children are more likely to have psychiatric problems. These visits to the psychiatrists are then, in turn, used by researchers to "prove" that adopted children are more disturbed than the general population.