Two young men disclosed emotional, sexual and physical abuse while attending college and living with Shared Lives carers in the UK. This paper provides a narrative account of the period when the two men were exposed to the abuse, the disclosures, the investigation and the legal and safeguarding investigation outcomes. A second paper describes the…

Background: This is the second of two papers describing a case study of two young men with complex learning disabilities. They presented with severe trauma-related mental distress following alleged sexual, emotional and physical abuse. This paper concerns the psychological intervention and support provided for them and their families over a period…

Background: Historically, the emotional lives and mental health needs of adults with learning disabilities received scant attention, especially when the policy of institutionalisation was at its zenith in the UK. Materials and Methods: This case study employed biographical narrative interviews based on a psychosocial approach. The main sources of…

Background: The UK Government's Transforming Care Agenda for people with learning disabilities has struggled to meet its goals of reducing inpatient beds and building community-based support. This article reports on the experiences of support staff who attended dramatherapy groups developed to assist transitions from an inpatient hospital and to…

In the UK, the Mental Health Tribunal is a long-established safeguard for patients detained under the Mental Health Act. This gives such patients an effective appeal mechanism to ensure legal protection of their liberty. This act contains sections that allow for civil detention in the case of mental disorder. The right to apply to the tribunal…

Clinical psychologists are well placed to work with people with learning disabilities given the high prevalence of psychiatric disorders in this population and the specialist training undertaken by psychologists. The evidence for psychological interventions in learning disabilities is scarce compared to the evidence for mainstream psychological…

Little research has been published on the need for sexual education for women in secure psychiatric facilities when patients present with a combination of learning disability, mental illness and personality disorder. The development of a brief, feasible, gender-speci?c sexual knowledge questionnaire is described, which has validity and reliability…

Prevalence rates vary considerably regarding the mental health of people with learning disabilities. This variation is a consequence of the assessment methods used to identify such clinical conditions and also different populations studied. The aim of this study was to screen for mental health problems in adults with mild-to-moderate learning…

People with learning disabilities can have mental health problems like anyone else. People with learning disabilities should be able to use the same mental health services as anyone else. In this article we say how we have tried to make this happen. It is now well recognized that people with learning disabilities experience the full range of…