Many studies have looked at the difficulties associated with medication management in people with learning disabilities. This study set out to looked at an approach to medication management and treatment in an outpatient psychiatry clinic for 198 community-residing children and adults with learning disability who were referred to the clinic and subsequently discharged over an [read the full story…]
The Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme which was established to treat people with mild to moderate depression and anxiety. Positive Practice Guidance was published in 2009, but there are currently no areas listed as having a special interest in psychological therapies to people with learning disabilities. You can download the Positive Practice Guidance [read the full story…]
The authors of this study set out to look into the issue of behaviour associated with pain in people with learning disabilities being misinterpreted as reflecting psychopathology. The authors worked with caregivers of 123 children and young people to examine whether psychopathology altered pain behaviour. They asked the caregivers to complete a checklist, the ‘Non-Communicating [read the full story…]
Mindfulness as described in modern psychology relates to a way of people bringing complete attention to their present experience and involves responding to that experience with a non-judgmental attitude.The authors of this study wanted to review the adaptation and application of mindfulness-based psychotherapeutic practices for people with learning disabilities. They provide an overview of the [read the full story…]
The aim of this review from the Cochrane Schizophrenia Group was to assess the effectiveness of oral health advice in reducing morbidity, mortality and preserving the quality of life in people with serious mental illness. A number of studies have found links between mental health problems and poor oral health and we have higlighted some [read the full story…]
This systematic review set out to look at the efficacy of atypical antipsychotic medication, also known as second generation antipsychotics, commonly used in the treatment of schizophrenia. There continues to be debate around whether these second-generation medications are safer or more effective than typical antipsychotics as they still can produce severe side effects. Other posts [read the full story…]
This paper set out to describe the value of using family systems theory as a meta-theory in psychotherapy with people with persons with learning disabilities and their families at different stages of the family life cycle. Family systems theory views the family as an emotional unit and uses systems thinking to describe the complex interactions [read the full story…]
The researchers in this study set out to investigate the rates and types of co-morbid disorders in a group of 84 young people (mean age 19.5 years) with autism. They assessed mental disorder with a semi-structured comprehensive clinical interview with the participants and with caregivers and also used quantitative questionnaires. The diagnoses were made according [read the full story…]
The organisation of mental health services for people with learning disabilities, particularly issues relating to inpatient care remains an important area for research. This review of the literature set out to identify recent findings. The review found that people with learning disabilities appeared to be admitted with more severe problems and also received more interventions [read the full story…]
People with learning disabilities and complex needs can often find themselves in services far from their family homes, particularly the case if the person has a mental health problem. This study set out to find out the views of family members of those people who were being cared for in out-of-area psychiatric hospitals. The authors [read the full story…]
