Editorial

Citation

Chaplin, E. and O'Hara, J. (2015), "Editorial", Advances in Mental Health and Intellectual Disabilities, Vol. 9 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/AMHID-01-2015-0004

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: Advances in Mental Health and Intellectual Disabilities, Volume 9, Issue 2.

Welcome to the second edition of 2015 which has a number of themes, three of the papers focus on offenders with intellectual disabilities, one on attachment on autism and the final paper reports on a single case using EMDR. The first paper by Rayner and colleagues is a systematic review of personality disorder (PD) in people with intellectual disabilities. This study explores PD as a potential predictor of offending in an intellectual disability (ID) group. This is a welcome addition to a complex area. Currently there is a lack of consistency in how people are diagnosed with PD. This makes for a confused picture when trying to determine the extent of a diagnosis of PD in people with ID. It is thought that a PD diagnosis is overrepresented in people with ID. This highlights a number of potential issues including the reliability and validity of how a diagnosis of PD is made. In offender populations this may be more challenging as many may choose to put forward their offence behaviours as evidence that a diagnosis of PD is indicated. The second paper by Chaplin and colleagues looks at the predictive qualities of two parts of the HCR-20, i.e. the historical and clinical risk sections. From an uncertain beginning, risk assessment within forensic ID services is now commonplace with the introduction of measures used in the wider population such as the HCR-20 as well as the development of specialist measures aimed at ID populations for specific areas of risk, e.g. the ARMADILLO, aimed at sexual offending. This study, which covers a six-year period, throws up some interesting findings on the association between historical and clinical factors and their ability to predict violence in a mix group of offenders and non-offenders within a low-secure environment. The third paper to look at offending is from Chester and colleagues. This paper examines the experiences of staff using EssenCes, a ward atmosphere scale. The EssenCes is designed to examine associations between ward atmosphere and climate with treatment outcomes. The understanding of such relationships is very important with little research in this area focusing on ID populations. With this in mind the paper focuses on how easy it is for clinicians to administer the EssenCes and increase understanding and accessibility for those completing it. This raises the question of validity of completing assessment with people with ID.

The final two papers move away from the focus on offenders and provide: a systematic review of attachment behaviour in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD); and and case study of a person with ID suffering from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) being treated using eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EDMR). Attachment theory in ASD has historically been a target for research with the commonly held belief that poor attachment will have an even greater impact on the social and psychological development of the child with autism and/or ID. Attachment behaviours in ASD can be different to the wider population. This paper brings together the current evidence base and why attachment behaviours may differ. The final paper on EDMR administered to a person with ID with PTSD sets out and takes us through an eight-stage EMDR treatment episode, highlighting the complexities of this approach. This paper also details treatment modification where necessary, an approach that has been rarely covered in any detail in the literature to date.

We hope you enjoy this edition of the journal and we wish to thank you for your continuing support of Advances in Mental Health and Intellectual Disabilities. As mentioned in the last edition we invite contributions from our readers to the journal of papers on innovative practice, research, case studies, service and policy-related issues and literature reviews. We welcome submissions from the range of health and social care professionals, but additionally those who use services and people who care for them. If you would like to know more about how to submit your work for publication please contact us at the Estia (mailto:eddie.chaplin@kcl.ac.uk). With our international readership steadily increasing over the past few years, we are currently planning a special edition of the journal to gain an international perspective from our readers across the globe.

Eddie Chaplin and Jean O'Hara