Cognitive therapy for depression with individuals with intellectual disabilities

The increase in research into psychopathology in people with intellectual disability has recently spread to include depression. Several reports have appeared on the assessment of depression in the client group and there is a pressing need for research into treatment of depression in people with intellectual disability. The present paper reviews cognitive behaviour therapy for depression and reports on its adaptation for people with intellectual disability. Two case studies of individuals with mild intellectual disability illustrate the clinical applications. All the elements of cognitive behaviour therapy for depression were maintained and simplified. Both subjects were able to monitor their feelings of depression and subject 2 monitored the frequency of suicidal thoughts. Improvements were seen in both cases on the Zung Depression Inventory and daily monitoring of depressive feelings.