Treatment of violent behavior in patients with Combined psychiatric illness and cognitive impairment: A case series

Some individuals with intellectual disabilities exhibit aggressive and self-injurious behaviors. When such behaviors are associated with an underlying psychiatric disorder marked by mood dysregulation, it may be quite difficult to obtain a specific psychiatric diagnosis and initiate specific and successful treatment. In this article, three case reports are presented in which a poly-pharmaceutical approach targeting aspects of mood dysregulation resulted in dramatic decreases in aggression and self-injurious behaviors. There were improvements in participation in other psychosocial treatments for these three individuals with extremely challenging behaviors residing in high-security psychiatric hospital settings. Implications for future practice and research are discussed.