Supervisore: prof. Colizzi

Individuals with intellectual developmental disability and/or autism spectrum disorder have a greater psychopathological vulnerability, with prevalence rates of psychiatric disorders up to 5 times higher than the general population.
As their clinical needs are substantially different from those of the general population, they cannot be adequately managed by specialists who have not received specific training. Many people with intellectual developmental disorders and/or autism spectrum disorder who present problematic behaviour undergo drug treatment without having received an adequate psychiatric evaluation and diagnosis. Instead, the prescription of psychotropic drugs should have specific objectives and include an interdisciplinary assessment, personalisation and the participation of the patients and their family. Thus, psychopathological co-occurrences represent a significant unmet clinical need in this populations.
This research project aims at assessing a sample of users with intellectual disability and/or autism spectrum disorder afferent to the service Gestione dell’Assistenza Sociosanitaria alle Persone con Disabilità of the Azienda Sanitaria Friuli Occidentale in order to: a) define the prevalence of psychopathological co-occurrences; b) the concordance with existing diagnoses; c) the appropriateness with respect to current pharmacological interventions.
The main expected result is the improvement of evaluation and intervention practices on psychopathological co-occurrences of persons with intellectual disability and/or autism spectrum disorders.

Lo studio è stato finanziato dall'Unione Europea – NextGenerationEU, Piano Nazionale di Ripresa e Resilienza (NRRP) Missione 4 Componente 2 Investimento/Subinvestimento 3.3 – Decreto Ministeriale n. 117 del 2 marzo 2023. I punti di vista e le opinioni espresse sono esclusivamente quelle degli autori e non riflettono necessariamente quelle dell'Unione Europea, né può l’Unione Europea essere ritenuta responsabile per esse