Psychopathology prior to the last four decades was generally viewed as a set of problems and disorders that did not occur in persons with intellectual disabilities (ID). That notion now seems very antiquated. In no small part, a revolutionary development of scales worldwide has occurred for the assessment of emotional problems in persons with ID.…

Although epilepsy is particularly common among people with intellectual disability (ID) it remains unclear whether it is associated with an increased likelihood of co-morbid psychopathology. We therefore investigated rates of mental health problems and other clinical characteristics in patients with ID and epilepsy (N=156) as compared to patients…

There is an abundance of research investigating Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) in children; however, little emphasis has been placed on ASD in adults, especially in regards to comorbid psychopathology. Although scales are available that measure comorbidity in adults with ID, what is needed are scales that measure comorbidity in adults with ID and…

We investigated the relationship between challenging behavior and co-morbid psychopathology in adults with intellectual disability (ID) and autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) (N=124) as compared to adults with ID only (N=562). All participants were first time referrals to specialist mental health services and were living in community settings.…

Psychologists interviewed direct-care staff using a battery of assessment measures including the autism spectrum disorders-diagnosis for intellectually disabled adults (ASD-DA), the Diagnostic Assessment for the Severely Handicapped-II (DASH-II), the Matson Evaluation of Social Skills for Individuals with Severe Retardation (MESSIER), the…

Since their introduction, antipsychotic medications have been used widely to treat conditions other than psychiatric disorders, especially among individuals with mental retardation. Researchers have shown that the prevalence rates of psychotropic medication prescriptions among this population are extremely high. Given the limited empirical data to…

Given the difficulties with symptom identification and the assessment of mental health problems in persons with intellectual disabilities (ID) there has been a focus on the development of relevant assessment schedules for persons with ID. A Swedish version of the psychopathology inventory for mentally retarded adults (PIMRA, informant version), an…

This study represents the first to assess whether a relationship between manic symptoms and feeding/mealtime behavior problems exists in individuals with ID. Participants were compared across three groups (manic, non-manic psychiatrically impaired, and controls) on the diagnostic assessment for the severely handicapped-revised (DASH-II) and young…