Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for Post‐Traumatic Stress Disorder in a person with an Autism Spectrum Condition and Intellectual Disability: A Case Study

Abstract

This case suggests that cognitive approaches to treating PTSD can be successful in people with intellectual disability and autism.

A Systematic Review of the Assessment and Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders

“…An additional post-trauma symptom presentation of anger and disruptive, aggressive and oppositional behaviours was described across six papers (five case studies: Trelles Thorne et al 2015;Harley et al 2014;Mevissen et al 2011;Weiss and Lunsky 2010;Carrigan and Allez 2017; and 1 cross-sectional study : Mehtar and Mukaddes 2011), suggesting that trauma and/or PTSD development may have an additional negative impact on emotional and behavioural characteristics for some individuals. Worryingly PTSD diagnosis (with co-occurring major depressive disorder/dysthymia) in ASD was also found to be associated with suicidal thoughts and behaviours, in a cross-sectional study of 102 children and adolescents with ASD (Storch et al 2013); however, this was based on a sample of only six individuals with PTSD and ASD, so requires replication.…”

“…The age range of the patients was between 6 and 45 years of age, with four papers reporting data in children (Cook et al 1993;Trelles Thorne et al 2015;Harley et al 2014;Mevissen et al 2011) and six in adults (Ryan 1994;Carvill and Marston 2002;Weiss and Lunsky 2010;Kosatka and Ona 2014;Carrigan and Allez 2017;Barol and Seubert 2010). All but one case report (Weiss and Lunsky 2010) detailed clients who had been referred to clinical services for specialist assessment and/or treatment.…”

“…PTSD symptom presentation was detailed in all studies where PTSD was formally diagnosed (Table 2). Five of the studies explicitly specified that diagnosis of PTSD according to DSM or ICD criteria was possible (Ryan 1994;Cook et al 1993;Weiss and Lunsky 2010;Carrigan and Allez 2017;Mevissen et al 2011). Clients were able to report events, symptoms and emotional states and expressed a comparable symptom profile to that seen in the typical developing population.…”

“…Symptoms that were reported not to remit in some cases included PTSD avoidance symptoms and parental stress following child-psychotherapy and anxiety towards environmental trauma reminders, such as buildings and anniversaries, following psychotherapy. It was reported in two articles that slight modifications to therapy were needed to support features of ASD (Kosatka and Ona 2014;Carrigan and Allez 2017).…”

Trauma‐informed care: A qualitative study exploring the views and experiences of professionals in specialist health services for adults with intellectual disabilities

“…While psychological interventions for PTSD in people with intellectual disability appear to be promising (Vereenooghe & Langdon, ), to date there are no clinical guidelines regarding the treatment of PTSD in people with intellectual disability due to the lack of methodologically robust research studies. As a consequence, practitioners in intellectual disability health services, who work with adults with intellectual disability who are also traumatized, adapt and modify therapies validated for delivery to the general population (Barrowcliff & Evans, ; Carrigan & Allez, ). Thus, it is necessary to conduct a qualitative inquiry to explore how health professionals assess and treat trauma in this population, as this implicitly has important implications for future development of trauma services.…”