Psychopathology in children and adolescents with intellectual disability

Abstract

Children with intellectual disability are at high risk of comorbid behavioral and emotional disorders, primarily due to genetical and biological factors that have caused the initial disability, but also because of developmental and psychological specificities and socio-economic conditions in which they grow up. In these cases, diagnostic process can be very complex, primarily because of the great variability of the symptoms and their atypical presentations, but also because of serious cognitive and communicative limitations. The existence of so called 'dual diagnosis' significantly reduces the quality of life of these children and that is why it is crucial to detect the most important risk factors and to provide early and accurate diagnostics of the mental disorders, so that these children could be included in appropriate therapeutical and rehabilitation programs as early as possible.

Keywords

• intellectual disability
• internalization
• externalization