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Low mood and challenging behaviour in people with severe and profound intellectual disabilities
- Authors:
- HAYES S., et al
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 55(2), February 2011, pp.182-189.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
“Diagnostic overshadowing” has been an obstacle for people with intellectual disabilities (ID) exhibiting symptoms of a mental illness. Progress has been made but there remains a tendency to assume that challenging behaviour stems from the ID rather than being symptomatic of mental illness. This study investigated the relationship between low mood and challenging behaviour in people with severe and profound ID, while controlling for the presence of potentially confounding variables such as diagnosis of autism, physical and sensory problems and ill health. The key workers of 52 people with severe and profound ID, living in residential care in Ireland, completed measures of depression, communication, challenging behaviour and provided information on demographic and health variables. Using the Mood, Interest and Pleasure Questionnaire, a significant difference was found between a ‘low mood’ and ‘normothymic’ group in the reported occurrence of challenging behaviour. This difference remained after confounding variables such as the presence of autism, health and sensory difficulties were controlled. The frequency and severity of challenging behaviour was predicted by measures indicating the presence of low mood. The authors conclude that people with severe and profound ID show clear and measurable signs of low mood, and in this relatively small sample of institutionalised individuals, low mood was associated with challenging behaviour.