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Neuropsychiatric consultation in mentally retarded patients: a clinical report

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 April 2020

WMA Verhoeven  and
S Tuinier
WMA Verhoeven
Affiliation:
Vincent van Gogh Institute for Psychiatry, Stationsweg 46, 5803 AC Venray, The Netherlands
S Tuinier
Affiliation:
Vincent van Gogh Institute for Psychiatry, Stationsweg 46, 5803 AC Venray, The Netherlands
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Summary

The present study describes the results of neuropsychiatric consultations in 70 institutionalized mentally retarded patients. On the basis of their major complaint, patients were assigned to eight overlapping categories. Diagnoses of a certain probability were established during multidisciplinary consensus meetings and classification was achieved according to ICD-10 criteria. In ten patients mental retardation was related to a specific syndrome; seizures or somatic comorbidity were present in 40 patients. The most frequent psychiatric diagnoses were: unspecified bipolar affective disorder (n = 14), depressive disorder (n = 6), impulse control disorder (n = 12), cycloid, transient, or schizoaffective psychotic disorder (n = 14), and (atypical) autism (n = 7). Recent history revealed a high occurrence of serious side effects of psychotropics or pharmacokinetic interactions. Appropriate pharmacological intervention resulted in an amelioration of the behavioural condition in about half of the patients. It is emphasized that psychiatric disorders frequently present with an atypical psychopathology and that stress- and anxiety-related disorders are most probably underdiagnosed.

Keywords

mental retardationneuropsychiatric diagnosisbipolar affective disordercycloid psychosis
Type
Original articles
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 12 , Issue 5 , 1997 , pp. 242 - 248
Copyright
Copyright © European Psychiatric Association 1997

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