Psychotherapeutic approaches in the treatment of mental illness and behavioural disorders in mentally retarded people: the significance of a psychoanalytic perspective

As a result of the increasing preoccupation with pre-oedipal disturbances, psychoanalytic theory has had to expand its basis. Through this new interpretation, better possibilities for the explanation and treatment of the various forms of psychopathology associated with mental retardation emerge. In this connection, the notion of a 'persisting developmental deficit' plays an important role based on ego-psychology which includes object-relation theory and psychoanalytic developmental psychology. Four specific issues illustrate the significance of a psychoanalytically orientated approach, namely: (I) the transformation of organic brain deficits into mental disorders; (2) 'secondary psychosocial deficit'; (3) the significance of the therapeutic relationship; and (4) re-enactments as expression of a pathological identity.