Much has been written about cognitive development in those who are cognitively impaired. Much is written about attachment for people who don't have disabilities. Yet people with disabilities have suffered discrimination and neglect of their emotional needs, perhaps because the pain of difference cannot be tolerated, perhaps because of lack of will or lack of knowledge. This book aims to help to fill the knowledge gap and to encourage others to overcome their resistance to facing the pain, and will be an important contribution to our understanding of the world of disability and emotional deprivation. In this book - a result of over twenty years experience with people who have disabilities and additional distress as a result of traumatic life experiences - an attempt is made to bring together what we know about early emotional development and the consequences of failure to provide an emotionally nurturing experience, and the results are then applied to people with disabilities.

Intellectual Disability and Psychotherapy: The Theories, Practice and Influence of Valerie Sinason charts the transformative impact of the noted psychotherapist’s work with children and adults with intellectual disabilities upon both a generation of clinicians and the treatment and services delivered by them. Examining how contemporary Disability Therapists have discovered, used and adapted such pioneering concepts as the Handicapped Smile and Secondary Handicap as a Defence Against Trauma in their clinical work, the book includes contributions from renowned practitioners and clinicians from around the world. It shines a light on how Sinason’s work opened doors for working with people who were previously thought of as unreachable. Intellectual Disability and Psychotherapy will be an essential resource to anyone working with children or adults with disabilities, as well as psychotherapists interested in exploring Valerie Sinason’s work.

Recent studies have identified that there is a high incidence and prevalence of trauma amongst people with intellectual disabilities which often results in arrested emotional development. Some of this relates to experiences of being restrained or separated from people they know, and some to early traumatic events, such as abandonment or neglect. Historically, most of the consequential emotional difficulties have been labelled as an effect of the disability or more recently, as challenging behaviour. For years psychotherapy has been denied to people with intellectual disabilities who have experienced trauma, on the grounds that they could not benefit from it. While this has proved not to be the case and attempts are being made to redress the balance, individual psychotherapy will always be in short supply. Trauma-informed care in Intellectual Disability will enable support staff to work therapeutically. Written by Dr Pat Frankish, a clinical psychologist with many years of experience in the field of intellectual disability and psychotherapy, whose work is dedicated to the development and growth of Trauma Informed Care as a model of working with people with disabilities.

People with intellectual disabilities have emotional and mental health needs just like anyone else. Until recently however there has been little research of effective psychological treatment or direct, accessible psychotherapy provision for this client group. Intellectual Disability, Trauma and Psychotherapy focuses on the delivery of psychotherapy services for those with intellectual disabilities. Leading professionals in this specialist field are brought together to describe the history, theory and practice of their work in twelve focused chapters that draw on the work of psychotherapists including Bion, Winnicott, Sinason and Alvarez. Topics covered include: therapeutic responses to cultural and religious diversity support for parents with intellectual disabilities developing healthy and secure attachments within the family dealing with intense feelings of shame helping clients to cope with traumatic sexual experiences. Drawing on over a decade of pioneering practitioner experience at Respond – a government-funded psychotherapy service for people with learning disabilities based in central London – this book explores the practical issues in providing therapy to this client group, whether individually, in families, in groups, or by the use of telephone counselling. It closes with a chapter exploring the way forward for those who wish to develop services of this kind.

This book provides the reader with insightful and useful ways to provide psychotherapy treatment for individuals who have intellectual disability (ID). It brings together all three modalities (individual, couple, and group), and a variety of theoretical models and techniques are discussed. The first section, Individual Therapy, offers a variety of approaches and techniques including dialectical behavioral therapy, positive psychology, mindfulness-based practice, and relaxation framing. Also included in this section are chapters on specialty populations including victims of abuse, people who have Autism Spectrum Disorder, and people in mourning. The second section is a chapter on group therapy addressing trauma issues. The third section is on family and couple therapy. The fourth section covers chapters on research, ethics, and training. The individual authors are respected authorities in the field of providing psychotherapy treatment for persons with ID, and all have contributed to the professional literature. This book is a major contribution to the effort to make psychotherapy available to individuals who have ID and should serve to further stimulate interest in the provision of psychotherapy treatment for individuals who have ID co-occurring with significant mental health problems. Book jacket.

Annotation A compassionate, informative guide to group therapy for an often-neglected population, this volume is devoted to building a clear foundation for determining treatments of choice for patients with intellectual disabilities. Choosing group treatment as the most effective intervention, the authors describe interactive-behavioral therapy (IBT), based heavily on traditional models of group therapy and psychodrama, and modified to enhance the possibility for change in people with intellectual disabilities. The authors describe IBT sessions with great clarity, detailing each stage and task of the process, and reporting on various therapeutic factors that emerge during group therapy. The special considerations and needs of group treatment for trauma and sexual abuse survivors and offenders with intellectual disabilities are covered in equal measure, and information is offered about how the application of the interactive-behavioral model can be used in sexual abuse avoidance training. A related model of individual treatment is detailed along with ways in which the clinician can make informed decisions concerning the most effective course of treatment for a given individual outside of group treatment. In heartfelt and instructive language, the authors make an effective case for the powerful gains that can be attained by psychotherapy for people with intellectual disabilities, and this book will be an invaluable research for clinicians and other helping professionals who work with them.