Population prevalence of psychopathology in children and adolescents with intellectual disability: II. Epidemiological findings.
Four in ten kids with ID have a diagnosable psychiatric disorder yet fewer than one in ten get specialist care—so universal mental health screening is essential.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team counted how many kids with intellectual disability also had serious mental health problems.
They checked children aged 4 to 18 in parts of New South Wales, Australia.
Doctors used standard interviews to decide who met criteria for emotional, behavioral, or psychiatric disorders.
What they found
Four out of every ten children with ID had a significant psychiatric disorder.
Fewer than one in ten of those kids had seen a mental health specialist.
Most families were handling complex behaviors without expert help.
How this fits with other research
Maddox et al. (2015) later asked Berlin teachers about the same group and got a similar picture: half the students showed serious emotional or behavioral problems.
McLennan et al. (2008) looked at adults with Down syndrome and saw roughly half the mental illness rate of other adults with ID. This is not a true conflict; Down syndrome is a protective sub-type, so the overall ID numbers stay high.
Howlin et al. (2006) added detail by linking specific behaviors to causes: self-injury or aggression in adults with ID usually signals mood trouble, while screaming ties more to autism traits.
Why it matters
High need plus low service use means you must screen every child with ID for mental health issues, not just autism behaviors.
Share the Einfeld et al. (1996) figure with funders and clinics to argue for more psychologist and psychiatrist slots.
When you see new problem behavior, treat it as a possible mood or anxiety disorder first, then assess further.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
This paper reports findings from an epidemiologically derived population in a multicentre study in NSW, Australia. The design of this study is described in the accompanying paper. Those with mild intellectual disability (ID) were likely to have been underascertained, but identification and participation rates for those with more severe ID were high. The study found that in the regions surveyed 40.7% of those with ID and aged between 4 and 18 could be classified as having severe emotional and behaviour disorder or as being psychiatrically disordered. The profoundly intellectually handicapped had lower levels of disturbance overall compared with those with mild, moderate and severe ID. The level of ID affected scores on a number of behavioural dimensions, with disruptive and antisocial behaviours more prominent in the mild ID group, and 'self-absorbed' and 'autistic' behaviours more prominent in those with severe ID. Age and sex did not affect prevalence, a finding that is in contrast to that found in general child psychopathology. The study found that fewer than 10% of children with intellectual disability and major psychiatric disorder had received specialist assistance.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 1996 · doi:10.1046/j.1365-2788.1996.768768.x