NEUROPSYCHIATRIC CONSULTATION IN MENTALLY-RETARDED PATIENTS - A CLINICAL REPORT

The present study describes the results of neuropsychiatric consultati ons in 70 institutionalized mentally retarded patients. On the basis o f their major complaint, patients were assigned to eight overlapping c ategories. Diagnoses of a certain probability were established during multidisciplinary consensus meetings and classification was achieved a ccording to ICD-IO criteria. In ten patients mental retardation was re lated to a specific syndrome; seizures or somatic comorbidity were pre sent in 40 patients. The most frequent psychiatric diagnoses were: uns pecified bipolar affective disorder (n = 14), depressive disorder (n = 6), impulse control disorder (n = 12), cycloid, transient, or schizoa ffective psychotic disorder (n = 14), and (atypical) autism (n = 7). R ecent history revealed a high occurrence of serious side effects of ps ychotropics or pharmacokinetic interactions. Appropriate pharmacologic al intervention resulted in an amelioration of the behavioural conditi on in about half of the patients. It is emphasized that psychiatric di sorders frequently present with an atypical psychopathology and that s tress- and anxiety-related disorders are most probably underdiagnosed.