Tuinier S, Verhoeven W M
Vincent van Gogh Institute for Psychiatry, Venray, The Netherlands.
J Intellect Disabil Res. 1993 Oct;37 Suppl 1:16-25. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2788.1993.tb00889.x.
The rediscovery of psychiatric disorders in mentally retarded subjects has revealed the inadequacy of existing diagnostic and classification systems. The major reason for the limitations of the latter is that such systems have not been developed for application in subjects with substantial intellectual handicaps or other brain dysfunctions. Furthermore, the impact of the different aetiological brain factors is more or less neglected, and so are the specific interrelations between brain dysfunctions and psychiatric symptoms. For a better understanding of the behavioural disorders in mentally retarded subjects, the data from primate studies should be taken into consideration, especially where these suggest a relationship between developmental factors and brain dysfunction. Finally, a functional approach is advocated, linking biological and psychological dysfunctions, that could eventually lead to a so-called functional psychopharmacology.
