This article describes an innovative intervention based on narrative and life review therapy that is tailored to people with intellectual disability (ID) and psychiatric problems. The current study provides a first evaluation of the intervention. A symptom checklist (SCL-90) was used in a pre- and post-follow-up design, and a qualitative evaluation of the intervention was carried out with 25 participants. Results showed large changes in psychiatric symptoms, in particular on depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and interpersonal sensitivity. Participants were mainly positive in their general explicit evaluations of the therapy as well as on personal learning points, intervention-specific, group-related, and therapist-related aspects. It is concluded that the intervention is promising for the treatment of people with ID and psychiatric complaints.

Earlier work has mainly been conducted on cognitive-behavioural therapy. Two systematic reviews conclude that existing studies on anxiety and depression show positive results, but that the evidence is still in an early, mainly descriptive phase (Dagnan, Jackson, &