Emotional distress is common in adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities and can be associated with medical conditions, unmet social-emotional developmental needs, life events, adversity, sensory issues, or trauma. It frequently presents as distressing behaviors. Psychiatric diagnostic assessment of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities is complex, especially in those who have limited or no ways to effectively communicate. This tool supports the primary care clinician in determining whether the patient’s distress and concerning behaviors are likely caused by emotional distress from current or past life circumstances or by psychiatric disorder.
Download: Identifying Symptoms and Signs of Mental Distress
After you download and save the PDF file to your computer, it can (1) be printed and filled out by hand or (2) completed as a fillable PDF form on devices (e.g., laptop, iPad). See Using Fillable Forms in this Toolkit.
Read more about the tool development and meet the team at the bottom of this web page.
Related Consensus Guidelines