Studies have shown that people with intellectual disability are more likely to be affected by mental illness and serious mental illness.

To understand more, researchers from the Centre looked at factors connected to the beginning of mental illness in people with intellectual disability.

They looked at over 47,000 health and medical records about people with intellectual disability who were in New South Wales between 2004 and 2018.

They found that:

• About 1 in 2 people with intellectual disability had mental illness.
• About 1 in 8 people with intellectual disability had serious mental illness.

They found that people with intellectual disability were more likely to develop a mental illness if they:

• Lived in areas with less money or fewer opportunities
• Had physical health problems
• Had ADHD or a learning disorder

The researchers made recommendations about how to improve mental health care in people with intellectual disability.

They wrote a report called 'Predictors of mental illness onset in adolescents and adults with intellectual disability: A retrospective cohort study in New South Wales, Australia'. You can read it here.

Project Team

Stefan C Michalski, Yunhe Huang, Preeyaporn Srasuebkul, Rachael C Cvejic, Samuel RC Arnold, and Julian N Trollor.