Psychiatry of Intellectual Disability

Ashok Roy, Meera Roy, David Clarke

• What is intellectual disability? Causes and prevention of intellectual disabilities. Psychiatric disorders and challenging behaviour. Autism and other developmental disorders. Epilepsy in people with intellectual disabilities. Common syndromes and genetic disorders. Physical health problems in people with intellectual disabilities. Psychiatric and behaviour disorders in children and adolescents with intellectual disabilities. Psychiatric health and older people with intellectual disabilities. Sexuality and people with intellectual disabilities. Intellectual disability and the law. The use of psychotropic drugs in people with intellectual disabilities. Professional roles and multi disciplinary working in intellectual disability services. Towards and integrated health service for people with intellectual disabilities.

"'People with intellectual disability (learning disability) can experience a wide range of psychiatric behavioural genetic and physical conditions. A psychiatrist working with this group of people needs to have a broad understanding of these conditions which are often beyond the range encountered when working with the general population. Some disorders occur more frequently in people with intellectual disability whereas the clinical presentations of other disorders can be modified by the presence of significant intellectual disability itself or be affected by communication problems.' Ashok Roy, Meera Roy and David Clarke"