ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the difference between individual psychotherapy for people without intellectual disability, and disability psychotherapy. There are many similarities but also some differences that are crucial for the success of the therapy. Individual psychotherapy is developed from the work of Freud and the acceptance of the existence of the unconscious. The question addressed is about how we access the unconscious, especially with people who may not speak, bearing in mind that psychotherapy is referred to as a talking therapy. Solution-focused therapy combines cognitive and emotional responses to problems and helps with the development of personal techniques that assist with the management of internal distress. Disability psychotherapy focuses on early emotional development, with or without later trauma. Psychodynamic psychotherapy for people traumatised in early life does take years, as it is a growth process based on the establishment of an attachment figure and working through of past trauma.
