RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Mental imagery (MI) has been described as the "ability to simulate in the mind information that is not currently being perceived by the sense organs" (Moran, 2012, p. 166). The vividness of mental imagery has been defined as the clarity, brightness, or intensity of an image as reported by the individual (Marks, 1973). There are many studies conducted on vividness in typically developing (TD) individuals, however, no attempt has been made either to assess the vividness of mental imagery in people with intellectual disability (ID) or compare it with that of typically developing (TD) adults. METODS: A vividness of imagery test (comprising a modified version of the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire 2, (VVIQ-2; Marks, 1995), and two items of the Age Projection Test, (APT; Ahsen, 1988) were administered to participants with mild, moderate, and severe ID. Their performance on the vividness scale was compared with typically developing individuals. Measures for cognitive and adaptive functioning were administered to ascertain the ID level of participants. RESULTS: The results of this study reveal a non-significant group difference between people with mild ID, moderate ID, and TD on the vividness of mental imagery and eidetic imagery. People with severe ID performed significantly lower than the other three groups. CONCLUSION: Despite their cognitive impairment, a non-significant difference between the performance of people with mild and moderate ID and typically developing individuals on imagery vividness scale is noteworthy.
RESUMEN
Eidetic model of growth (EMG) is a form of psychotherapy developed for people with intellectual disabilities (ID). EMG is based on the theoretical tenets of eidetic psychotherapy of Akhter Ahsen, which uses eidetic imagery as its major therapeutic tool. The literature review did not find any empirical study on eidetic imagery-based psychotherapy for people with ID except reviews and case histories. This study investigates the clinical utility of therapeutic techniques based on eidetic imagery as developed by Ahsen and Syed. In this study thirty participants with mild and moderate ID were recruited. Participants were recruited from the services for people with ID. These services were contacted to recruit participants who had experiential (i.e., abuse, trauma etc.), emotional (i.e., bereavement, attachment problems), psychiatric (i.e., anxiety, depression) and behavioural (i.e., anger, aggression) problems and to seek consent from the potential participants. The Anxiety Depression and Mood Scale (ADAMS) was administered to the participants before the therapy started, after every 5th session and once the therapy was terminated. The statistical analysis of the pre-therapy and post-therapy scores of participants on the ADAMS was carried out to measure the therapeutic outcome. Paired-sample t-test revealed a significant difference between the pre-therapy and post-therapy scores of participants on ADAMS, with a large effect size (d = 1.54). The result indicates existence of eidetic imagery in people with ID and its promising therapeutic utility.
RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: The dearth of literature regarding how or when to intervene when an adult with intellectual disability is bereaved may impede clinical practice; this study therefore aimed to explore the current clinical psychology response, so as to enhance understanding of the role of the profession in supporting grief within this population. METHOD: A collective case study design was used. Data for six persons with intellectual disability, including interviews with parentally bereaved persons and involved staff members, were integrated into individual case stories for cross-case synthesis. RESULTS: Data were analysed using thematic analysis. Five overarching themes illustrated that the clinical psychology role is broadly distributed and identified potentially complicating factors such as "gatekeeping" and "staff uncertainty." CONCLUSIONS: A model of bereavement supports reflecting that by Read (Learning Disability Practice, 8, 2005, 31) is being approximated in clinical practice; further research is required to determine how best to implement this, and whether this meets the true needs of the population.