No abstract

Specialist units are an effective care option for this group of people.

This study gives further evidence of associations between psychiatric symptoms and specific problem behaviours in people with ID. It may be particularly useful to consider the diagnosis of affective disorders if a person with ID shows self-injurious or aggressive behaviours.

Services for people with learning disabilities have been transformed since the late 1960s by the move from institutional to community care. (Learning disabilities is the term currently used in the UK in preference to mental retardation, developmental disabilities and mental handicap.) Important changes include the progress towards integration, participation, inclusion and choice for people with learning disabilities, which have occurred in the context of the broader civil and human rights movements. It is time to examine the services delivered to people with learning disabilities and comorbid psychiatric disorders (mental illness, personality disorders, behavioural problems with aggression) and the evidence for their effectiveness.