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Reactive attachment disorder symptoms in adults with intellectual disabilities
- Authors:
- MINNIS Helen, FLEMING Gail, COOPER Sally-Ann
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 23(4), July 2010, pp.398-403.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Unusual social behaviours such as disinhibited, overfriendly or, conversely, withdrawn hypervigilant behaviours are core symptoms of Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD). Studies with children suggest that RAD is associated with pathogenic early care. Little is known about RAD in adults with intellectual disabilities, many of whom experience adversity and abuse in early life. This study investigated whether RAD symptoms occur in this population, and explored whether hypothesised risk factors are associated with higher RAD symptom scores. The participants were 50 adults with intellectual disabilities residing in long-stay hospitals. The participants and their carers participated in a questionnaire survey of RAD symptoms, childhood experiences, and disabilities. The results demonstrated that RAD symptoms were present in this sample, and symptom scores were independently associated with early childhood adversity, diminished with age, but were not associated with cognitive ability, gender, other disabilities, or number of childhood years in institutional care. The paper concludes that, as with children with RAD, it is possible that some maltreated adults with intellectual disabilities fail to develop stranger anxiety by the usual developmental age, but these symptoms reduce in adult life after decades of further development.
Psychiatry of elderly compared to younger adults with intellectual disabilities
- Author:
- COOPER Sally-Ann
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 10(4), 1997, pp.303-311.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Investigates the prevalence of psychiatric disorders amongst adults with intellectual disabilities aged 65 years and over, living in Leicestershire, UK, compared to a random sample of adults with intellectual disabilities aged 20-64 years, living in the same area. Both groups had high rates of current psychiatric morbidity, but rates were significantly higher in the elderly group. Also found dementia occurs at a much higher rate amongst people with intellectual disabilities than it does amongst the general population.