Faculty webinar: Psychological therapies with people with learning disabilities – challenges and future directions with Professor Peter Langdon

We know that people with learning disabilities are excluded from almost all clinical trials, including clinical trials designed to test mental health interventions, even though people with learning disabilities are more likely to have mental health difficulties. Interventions such as talking psychological therapies need to be adapted to meet the needs of people with learning disabilities. For those with more severe learning disabilities, alternatives to talking psychological therapies are required.  

The aim of this talk is to review how psychological therapies for people with learning disabilities are adapted and the associated evidence base for these interventions. The challenges of recruiting people with learning disabilities into clinical trials and potential solutions will be considered. Adapting psychological therapies for use with people who have intellectual disabilities should include an increased focus on social issues. This includes a range of issues such as poverty, stigma, bullying, labelling, and broadly, all forms of social exclusion throughout our shared society, including exclusion from clinical trials. 

Peter completed his undergraduate degree at Memorial University of Newfoundland before going on to complete postgraduate studies in clinical psychology at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience as a Lord Rothermere Fellow. He completed a PhD and postdoc funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence at the Tizard Centre, University of Kent. He is a fellow of both the British Psychological Society and the International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. He has combined clinical and academic work with people with learning disabilities throughout his career.   

Submit your question for Peter to answer during the webinar.