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General discussion1557In my general introduction, I introduced you to Bob, an illustrative patient from my medical practice as intellectual disability (ID) physician. Bob is a man with mild intellectual disability (MID) who had been suffering from mental health (MH) problems for most of his life. For an extended period, he did not receive the treatment and support that he needed, resulting in an increase in both MH and social problems. It was patients like Bob who made me wonder what would have happened if such a person had received the appropriate (MH) care and support at an earlier stage in his life and motivated me to write this thesis. As Desmond Tutu said: There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they’re falling in.The aim of this thesis was to provide insight into quantitative and qualitative characteristics of MH care for people with MID, with a main focus on the primary care setting, to provide guidance to improve MH care for people with MID, preferably upstream and through primary care. In this chapter, I reflect on the results from the different studies and consider the implications of our findings for practice, policy, and research in order to improve MH care for people with MID.Characteristics of patients with both MID and MH problems During my PhD journey, it became clear to me not only that patients like Bob are illustrative of patients in my specialized medical practice as an ID physician, but also that his life course is common for people with MID in general. This makes them a group of patients whom general practitioners (GPs) often encounter in their practice. The findings of this thesis show that patients with both MID and MH problems have particular characteristics that impact the course of their MH trajectory and their lives. Below, I discuss these characteristics, using Bob’s story as an example, thereby providing insight into the patient group that is the focus of this thesis (Box 7.1).Katrien Pouls sHL.indd 155 24-06-2024 16:26
