Personality disorders in people with learning disabilities: follow-up of a community survey

A sample of community-based service users with intellectual disability (ID) was re-examined after 5 years to determine the impact of a diagnosis of personality disorder (PD).

Seventy-five of the original 101 participants were followed up. Of these, 21 people had a PD identified during the original study.

Compared with controls, people with a PD were significantly more likely to receive central nervous system (CNS) drugs, have more contact with psychiatric services, show increased offending behaviour, score higher on the Aberrant Behaviour Checklist and score above the threshold on the Psychiatric Assessment Schedule for Adults with Developmental Disability (PAS-ADD). Participants with PD recorded were more likely to have a recorded psychiatric disorder, have contact with specialist teams, and have more hospital admissions.

People with ID and PD are able to live in the community with specialist support but improved assessment, diagnosis and support services need to be targeted more effectively to them.