Intensive Interaction and psychological therapies

In my most recent Blogs I have been focusing on how Intensive Interaction could, and I believe should be usefully conceptualised as a psychological intervention for those people who have intellectual disabilities (and/or autism) who are unable to access traditional (i.e. talking) psychotherapies, but as Dr Ruth Berry stated: 'who may be in great need of experiencing psychological contact and connectedness' (Berry et al, 2014). 

These people (our Intensive Interaction people) are currently often (and in reality, almost entirely) excluded from being able to access traditional psychological therapies simply because such therapies rely on two-way exchanges of some form of 'symbolic' meaning as the means for addressing psychological difficulties and emotional distress.

Well as it turns out, in the 2015 UK report on psychological therapies for people who have intellectual disabilities (carried out for the Faculties for Intellectual Disabilities of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the Division of Clinical Psychology of the British Psychological Society and edited by Professor Nigel Beail), there is clear evidence that this issue is starting to be more clearly and thoughtfully considered. In their imaginatively titled report 'Psychological therapies and people who have intellectual disabilities' there were indeed several references to the use of Intensive Interaction as part of variously framed psychological interventions. 

These references included: 

Chapter 7: Solution-Focused Brief Therapy - SFBT (Helen F. Lloyd, Alasdair Macdonald & Lauren Wilson p.88).

‘Case studies of direct SFBT work with those people with ID with little or no language are emerging. Bliss (2012) describes using SFBT principles with ‘Beth’, a resident in a home for people with Autism Spectrum Disorder. She self-injured, engaged in flicking, rocking, screaming and playing with saliva. As ‘Beth’ did not speak, staff voiced the preferred future for ‘Beth’ and gave examples of times when she responded positively. Exception-seeking was combined with behavioural observations of ‘exceptions’ and Intensive Interaction techniques as described by Firth (2006)’.

(Ref: Firth, G. (2006) ‘Intensive Interaction: a research review’. Mental Health and Learning Disabilities Research and Practice, 3(1), 53-58).

Chapter 9: Group Interventions (Rowena Rossiter, Celia Heneage, Nicky Gregory & Layla Williams (with thanks to Paul Willner & John Rose) p.118).

‘There are published case examples of group work, such as Leaning & Watson (2006) … who describe group therapy with people who have ID.’

(Ref: Leaning, B. & Watson, T. (2006) ‘From the inside looking out: an Intensive Interaction group for people with profound and multiple disabilities’. British Journal Learning Disabilities, 34, 103-109).

Chapter 10:  Art, Drama & Music Therapies (Simon Hackett , Kate Rothwell, & Chris Lyle, p. 132).

'Art psychotherapists working with people who have ID often use a flexible, adapted and individualised approach in their work. When working with people who have limited verbal communication, adaptation can include using picture symbols and other communication aids within the therapy. Additional communicative techniques such as Intensive Interaction may also be used'. 

So there is an obvious pattern developing of a growing number of therapists/psychologists using Intensive interaction across the UK as part of their psychological intervention toolkit - and from the report above, often in imaginative and (perhaps for some of us) unexpected ways e.g. as part of group or arts based therapies. 

But what now, and what next - how can this increasing recognition of the psychological use of Intensive Interaction be brought together? And how can those who work in this way be further supported to continue this important (no lets be frank - 'absolutely vital') psychological work for those people who until this happens will remain 'in great need of experiencing psychological contact and connectedness'.