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This far, yet how much further? Reflections on the allure of the mainstream for people with intellectual disabilities and mental health needs
- Author:
- FLYNN Andrew
- Journal article citation:
- Advances in Mental Health and Intellectual Disabilities, 4(4), December 2010, pp.9-14.
- Publisher:
- Emerald
This article provides a reflection on the current status of mental health services for people with intellectual disabilities against the historical and philosophical trend towards ‘mainstreamed’ services for this group of people. Present day services for people with intellectual disabilities would be barely recognisable to clinicians working half a century ago. Firstly, there was the closure of the institution-like hospitals as part of a general reorientation within psychiatry from the asylum to the community. Secondly, there has been a push towards incorporating people with intellectual disabilities in ‘mainstream’ services. This principle of ‘normalisation’ sits at the heart of health and social policy in the UK for people with learning disabilities. Despite this, psychiatry has retained learning disability as a distinct area of specialism. This article asks whether separate mental health of intellectual disability (MHID) services offer something that really cannot be met by mainstream services, providing arguments for their continued existence as a separate specialist entity within the field of psychiatry.