Treating Mental Illness and Behavior Disorders in Children and Adults With Mental Retardation

Both contemporary and in-depth, this multidisciplinary, multidimensional volume covers all available therapeutic methods, including psychopharmacotherapy, psychotherapy, behavior therapies, cognitive therapy, and the systems approach for all the main diagnostic disorders in people with mental retardation.

Since the 1970s, the development of normalization philosophy and the implementation of community care policies have highlighted the nature and treatment of psychiatric and behavior disorders in people with mental retardation and rekindled the interest of scientists, psychiatric practitioners, and service providers. With these changes has grown a substantial body of new research and information on the phenomenology, epidemiology, classification, and clinical features of mental illness and behavior disorders in mentally retarded persons.

In response to this growing interest and awareness, the editors, together with internationally renowned contributors from the United States and Europe, have compiled the first comprehensive handbook of the current theory and practice of mental health treatment and care in mentally retarded children and adults.

Both contemporary and in-depth, this multidisciplinary, multidimensional volume covers all available therapeutic methods, including psychopharmacotherapy, psychotherapy, behavior therapies, cognitive therapy, and the systems approach for all the main diagnostic disorders in people with mental retardation.

Parts I and II present an overview of epidemiology and clinical presentation, including research trends, and therapeutic methods, including psychotherapy, psychopharmacology, behavioral therapies, cognitive and social learning treatments, and working with families and caregivers.

Parts III and IV focus on psychotherapeutic interventions, such as rational emotive group treatment with dually diagnosed adults, pre-therapy for persons with mental retardation who are also psychotic, and systemic therapy, and how to apply these methods to the treatment of specific mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia, epilepsy, and mood and anxiety disorders.

Parts V and VI discuss how to treat behavior disorders such as aggression/self-aggression (pharmacotherapy and strategic behavioral interventions) and self-injurious behaviors (multimodal contextual approach), including group therapy for sex offenders and a pedagogical approach to behavior problems, and which treatment methods, such as psychodynamically oriented psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy, are most effective with children, including developmental-dynamic relationship therapy with more severely mentally retarded children.

Parts VII and VIII provide guidance on mental health services and staff training, including psychiatric treatment in community care and a model for inpatient services for mentally ill persons with mental retardation, and the editors final chapter, which draws together all the various therapeutic approaches described in previous chapters to provide a practical framework for an integrative approach.

Filling a major gap in the literature, this indispensable resource for psychiatrists, psychologists, and educators working with mentally retarded persons is also intended for general practitioners, doctors, social workers, and therapists working in the same or related fields.

ContributorsPrefacePart I: IntroductionChapter 1. Epidemiology, etiology, and presentation of mental illness and behavior disorders in persons with mental retardationPart II: Treatment MethodsChapter 3. Psychotherapeutic methodsChapter 3. Psychopharmacological approachChapter 4. Behavioral therapies: individualizing interventions through treatment formulationChapter 5. Cognitive and social learning treatmentsChapter 6. Working with families and caregivers of people with severe mental retardationPart III: Psychotherapeutic InterventionsChapter 7. Psychoanalytic therapiesChapter 8. A rational-emotive group treatment approach with dually diagnosed adultsChapter 9. Pre-therapy: a treatment method for people with mental retardation who are also psychoticChapter 10. Systemic therapyPart IV: Treatment of Mental IllnessChapter 11. Treatment of schizophreniaChapter 12. Treatment of mood disorders in mentally retarded personsChapter 13. Treatment of anxiety disorders in persons with mental retardationChapter 14. Treatment of epilepsy and associated disordersChapter 15. Mood and affect as determinants of psychotropic drug therapy response in mentally retarded persons with organic mental syndromesPart V: Treatment of Behavior DisordersChapter 16. Pharmacotherapy in aggressive and auto-aggressive behaviorChapter 17. Strategic behavioral interventions in aggressionChapter 18. Self-injurious behaviors: multimodal contextual approach to treatmentChapter 19. Group therapy for mentally retarded sex offendersChapter 20. Treatment and care of mentally retarded offendersChapter 21. A pedagogical approach to behavioral problemsPart VI: Treatment Methods With ChildrenChapter 22. Psychodynamically oriented psychotherapy in mentally retarded childrenChapter 23. Developmental-dynamic relationship therapy: an approach to more severely mentally retarded childrenChapter 24. Pharmacotherapy in mentally retarded childrenChapter 25. Management of pervasive developmental disordersPart VII: Mental Health Services for the Mentally Retarded and Staff TrainingChapter 26. Service provision and staff training: an overviewChapter 27. Psychiatric treatment in community careChapter 28. A model for inpatient services for persons with mental retardation and mental illnessPart VIII: Integrative TreatmentChapter 29. Treatment: An integrative approachIndex