DEPRESSION IN ADULTS WITH INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY .2. A PILOT-STUDY

Objectives: To identity adults with intellectual disability (ID) with a depressive disorder referred to a tertiary consultation clinic for p sychiatric assessment; to investigate common presenting features of de pression in adults with ID; to assess the utility of visual analogue s cale (VAS) measures of emotion/behaviour, the CORE measure of psychomo tor disturbance, and substitutive diagnostic criteria in the assessmen t of depressive disorders in this patient group.Method: Over a 6-month period 47 patients were seen for psychiatric evaluation. Patients in whom a diagnosis of depression was made were further assessed using: V AS measures of depression, irritability, verbal aggression, physical a ggression, temper outbursts, regressed behaviour; CORE measure of psyc homotor disturbance; and substitutive diagnostic criteria designed by the authors. Results: Ten patients were found to have a depressive dis order. Substitutive criteria resulted in a greater rate of diagnosis t han standard DSM-IV criteria. The VAS measure of irritability was high ly scored for all 10 depressed patients. All 10 depressed patients wer e assigned to the melancholic subgroup according to CORE score. Conclu sions: Standard assessment measures and diagnostic criteria may requir e modification to enhance their utility in this patient group. Melanch olic features require further investigation.