ABSTRACT
Parenting, child and adolescent development, and the achievement of independence for young people are complex processes. This chapter presents some statistics concerning the mental health of children and young people with a learning disability. It provides some information about the literature on psychoanalytic psychotherapy with people with a learning disability, and introduces the concepts of 'emotional intelligence' and 'secondary handicap'. The chapter discusses some of the psychological difficulties faced by parents, the children and young people, and their siblings. It also presents some illustrations based on the author's case work; these illustrations are not of actual patients but are of situations and interactions taken into a different context and anonymised to preserve patient confidentiality. The chapter describes some ways in which professionals might become receptive to the feelings of the children and young people they work with, so that they can be more effective in helping them and their families.
