The Adopted-Away Offspring of Schizophrenics
DAVID ROSENTHAL PH.D.1,
PAUL H. WENDER M.D.2,
SEYMOUR S. KETY M.D.3,
JOSEPH WELNER M.D.4, , and
FINI SCHULSINGER M.D.5
1 Chief, Laboratory of Psychology, National Institute of Mental Health, 9000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, Md. 20014
2 Research Psychiatrist, Laboratory of Psychology, National Institute of Mental Health, 9000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, Md. 20014
3 Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, Mass.
4 Assistant Chief Psychiatrist, Department of Psychiatry, Kommunehospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark
5 Chief Psychiatrist, Department of Psychiatry, Kommunehospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark
In this study, adopted-away children of schizophrenics were compared with 67 controls—adoptees whose parents had no known psychiatric history. The rate of diagnoses in the "schizophrenia spectrum" was 31.6 percent for the entire index group, compared to 17.8 percent for the control group. The authors believe that evidence from this study supports the theory that heredity plays a significant role in the etiology of schizophrenia spectrum disorders.
