The Law Relating to Mental Handicap and to the Mentally Handicapped Offender

Author(s):  
R. S. Bluglass
1975 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 300-306
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Parker

SynopsisThe results of a survey carried out at Rampton and Moss Side Special Hospitals into physical and behavioural incapacity associated with mental handicap are described and compared with the findings of the 1970 National Survey. The Special Hospital patients were found to be less mentally handicapped than similar patients in subnormality hospitals in the National Health Service. The prevalence of physical incapacity associated with mental handicap was also lower in the Special Hospitals but the Special Hospital patients were assessed as more behaviourally disordered. In both surveys the incapacities present were concentrated in the severely mentally handicapped patients. In the Special Hospitals survey the women, when compared with the men, were found to be more behaviourally disordered and to suffer from a greater degree of multiple severe incapacity. All the differences found between the two surveys are consistent with the statutory criteria for admission to a Special Hospital.


1984 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 923-935 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivan Leudar ◽  
W. I. Fraser ◽  
M. A. Jeeves

SynopsisBehaviour disturbance was investigated in mentally handicapped adults who were living in hospital or at home. The first part of the study describes an empirically derived typology of disturbed behaviour patterns and gives the details of a scale by means of which behaviour disturbance can be quantified along six dimensions: aggression, mood disturbance, communicativeness, antisocial conduct, idiosyncratic mannerisms, and self-injury. The second part of the study used the scale in a longitudinal study of behavioural disturbance. Different forms of disturbed behaviour exhibited different kinds of longitudinal stability, and the long-term changes in one aspect of disturbance depended on subjects' other disturbance scores.


1988 ◽  
Vol 152 (6) ◽  
pp. 842-845 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. J. McLoughlin

In Prudhoe Hospital, a large mental-handicap hospital of 1000 residents, it was found that of the 94 deaths that occurred between 1982 and 1986, three were closely associated with the habit of pica. These deaths occurred in severely and profoundly handicapped males, whose average age was 32, compared with an average age of death of 58 for the combined groups of severely and profoundly mentally handicapped patients (22 cases), and an average age of death of 60 for all degrees of handicap (94 cases). It seems likely that the habit of pica constitutes a cause of considerable morbidity and mortality in certain institutionalised patients.


1992 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 212-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary E. Nolan ◽  
G. Radakrishnan ◽  
John Lewis

There has been much discussion on the most suitable services for mentally handicapped people with special needs such as additional mental illness or marked behavioural disorders. A number of policy documents have advocated the use of generic services as a matter of course, such as the All Wales Strategy (1983), while others have acknowledged a possible need for specialist input when such services are used e.g. Needs and Responses (Department of Health, 1989). In 1986 the Royal College of Psychiatrists stated that the psychiatric needs of this group required a specialised service and suggested that ideally this would be integrated with other psychiatric specialities as part of a comprehensive service.


1975 ◽  
Vol 127 (6) ◽  
pp. 535-539 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Blackie ◽  
A. Forrest ◽  
G. Witcher

SummarySome conceptual problems in relation to the interaction of genetic influence and social disadvantagement are discussed, and some of the results of a study of 144 families with mentally handicapped children reported. The work of Heber and his associates in Milwaukee is briefly reviewed, and the Edinburgh data discussed in relation to the study in Aberdeen by Birch et al. (1970). Possible strategies for intervention are considered.


1992 ◽  
Vol 161 (5) ◽  
pp. 671-674 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard A. Collacott ◽  
Sally-Ann Cooper ◽  
Catherine McGrother

The total number of adults with Down's syndrome living in Leicestershire, ascertained by widespread enquiry, was found to be 378. Of these, 371 were matched with adults with mental handicap due to other pathologies, on the basis of age, sex, and type of residence. Those with Down's syndrome were found to have a different spectrum of mental disorders from those without the syndrome. In particular, Down's syndrome patients were more likely to have been diagnosed as having depression and dementia; the controls were more likely to have been diagnosed as suffering from conduct disorder, personality disorder, or schizophrenia/paranoid state. The same proportion of each group had been given a diagnosis of autism.


1990 ◽  
Vol 14 (10) ◽  
pp. 608-609 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leila B. Cooke

In spite of all the publicity in recent years about child abuse, very little mention has been made of another group of people who are also very vulnerable to abuse, namely adults with a mental handicap. Although chronologically adults, and therefore not susceptible to the laws designed to protect children, they may be functioning intellectually and emotionally at a much lower level. Because they are often dependent on other people for many aspects of their care, this makes them vulnerable to physical and sexual abuse and neglect. Difficulties with speech and communication may render them unable to inform anyone of their plight or ask for help, therefore many problems remain hidden. Personal involvement in one such case made me aware of this problem and the current lack of legal protection for this group of people. I therefore undertook a national survey in order to gain more information on the prevalence of abuse, factors associated with it, and possible legal solutions.


1976 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 171-244 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Schlueter Budd ◽  
Donald M. Baer

This paper examines the intersection of behavior modification and recent court litigation dealing with prisoners and mentally handicapped persons. The courts have displayed an unprecedented interest in articulating the rights of institutionalized residents and establishing specific standards to insure that these rights are protected. While many of the court-ordered reforms are clearly beneficial, some of the emerging standards might, and indeed do, limit the use of certain behavior modification techniques, with the very real possibility that important therapeutic interventions could be delayed or even prohibited for some persons. This paper presents a comprehensive review of the court decisions relating to behavior modification procedures, outlines some of the complex and largely unresolved issues raised by the decisions, and suggests some solutions to these problems from the viewpoint of a behavioral psychologist.


1975 ◽  
Vol 127 (6) ◽  
pp. 545-549 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Kirman

SummaryDefinitions of mental handicap are imprecise in practice, and a wide spectrum of patients are provided for under this heading. There can be no question of specific treatment for ‘mental handicap’ as such. Many situations arising in institutions for the mentally handicapped derive from the nature of the institution and the regime. Drugs may be used ‘faute de mieux’ when environmental manipulation would be more appropriate. There is much overprescribing, and the choice of drugs is not always logical; monitoring of dose is seldom employed. A major source of behaviour disturbance in the mentally handicapped is lack of suitable occupation. Apart from a few specific indications, use of sedatives and tranquillizers for the mentally handicapped should be seen as a holding device, to enable a different system of management to be adopted or to disrupt an undesirable behaviour pattern.


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