Psychiatry of intellectual and developmental disability in the US: time for a new beginning

Abstract

Although psychiatry in the United States owes its origins to the treatment of persons with intellectual disabilities (ID) and developmental disabilities (DD), over the past 50 years, clinical services, education of professionals and research in psychiatry of ID have consistently lagged behind other fields in psychiatry. The historical and contemporary reasons for this development are discussed with recommendations for establishment of a fully credentialed subspecialty of Psychiatry of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities in the United States.