Substance misuse and addiction in people with intellectual and developmental disabilities

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Andrew Jones summarises a recent Canadian cohort study, which explores the extent of substance misuse and addictive disorders among adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

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Mental health support for children with learning disabilities

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In her debut blog, Christine Burke from the Mental Health Foundation considers what good mental health support should look like for children and young people with learning disabilities.

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CBT for Autism Spectrum Disorders and comorbid mental illness

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Alix Dixon presents a recent systematic review on the effectiveness of CBT for autism spectrum disorders and comorbid anxiety or depression.

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Annual health checks may reduce emergency hospital admissions for preventable conditions

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Pauline Heslop summarises a UK primary care study that shows how emergency hospital admissions for preventable conditions can be reduced in people with learning disabilities who receive annual health checks.

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Dementia in Down syndrome: Are we ready for a clinical trial?

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Leen Vereenooghe summarises the TOP-COG study (Towards Onset Prevention of COGnitive decline in adults with Down syndrome). This pilot RCT highlights the need to educate people with learning disabilities and their carers about the importance of research participation.

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Trends in antipsychotic prescribing in autism

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Angela Hassiotis and James Dove summarise a recent meta-analysis of antipsychotic prescribing and use trends in US youth with autism spectrum disorder and/or learning disabilities.

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Antipsychotic overprescribing in people with learning disabilities #UCLJournalClub

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Tayla McCloud from the #UCLJournalClub presents the findings of a cohort study showing that antipsychotics are being over-prescribed in people with learning disabilities.

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Let’s talk about sex! Sexual consent for people with learning disabilities

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Nick Burton presents a recent literature review about the right to legal capacity to consent to sex for people with learning disabilities. He highlights a number of important questions that staff need to consider so that they can support people with learning disabilities to have healthy sexual relationships.

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Mental illness, challenging behaviour and psychotropic drugs #UCLJournalClub

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Join us at 2-3pm on Wednesday 18th May for the #UCLJournalClub, which will be live broadcasted on YouTube and live tweeted by the @LearningDisElf

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Psychotherapy for people with learning disabilities: the views and experiences of IAPT practitioners

Psychological therapists and occupational therapists were not included in this qualitative study of 27 mental health staff, which is a shame.

Reed Cappleman critiques a recent study of IAPT (Improving Access to Psychological Treatments) practitioners’ experiences of providing therapy to people with intellectual disabilities.

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