S. Halstead, RISK ASSESSMENT AND MANAGEMENT IN PSYCHIATRIC PRACTICE - INFERRING PREDICTORS OF RISK - A VIEW FROM LEARNING-DISABILITY, International review of psychiatry, 9(2-3), 1997, pp. 217-224
Concepts of visit assessment and management in psychiatry increasingly
reflect public and professional anxieties that people with a mental d
isorder may harm others. The increase in likelihood, over the general
population, of suicide is also fairly high in consciousness. For peopl
e with learning disabilities such risks will need managing from time t
o time but they appear no higher than for the general population, poss
ibly rather lower. Other risks are much more prominent, best summarize
d as risks to those with learning disability from society. The double
edge sword of 'prevention' through genetic counselling and its likely
consequences cannot be ignored, but here special attention is given to
risks of experience of physical and/or sexual abuse and risks of misc
arriages of justice.