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Psychopharmacology and Intellectual Disability: The Continuing Dilemmas of "Challenging Behaviour"

Bruce D McCrearyl

Optimal pharmacotherapy in treating the mental disorders seen in persons with intellectual disabilities relies on care plans formulated on a broad biopsychosocial perspective.

An inclination for these individuals to present with behavioral features, particularly aggression, has contributed to a long-standing pattern of overuse of antipsychotic medications. Many jurisdictions, having closed their traditional institutions, have yet to establish the specialized secondary and tertiary mental health services needed to provide care and relevant professional training. Contemporary advances in genetics and neuroscience hold promise in facilitating accurate diagnosis and individualized medical interventions i.e., “personalized medicine” for these individuals.