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A recently published study showed a 41% prevalence of mild intellectual disability (MID) and borderline intellectual functioning (BIF) in a large sample of Dutch psychiatric patients. This study aims to examine if the outcomes of the Screener for Intelligence and Learning Disabilities (SCIL) were affected by the severity of psychiatric symptoms during admission.

The authors administered the SCIL and the Kennedy Axis V (domain psychological impairment) at two moments when patients were sufficiently stabilised and just before discharge.

A total of 86% of the respondents had the same outcome regardless of the time of administration. The Kennedy score correlated modestly with changes in the SCIL scores, suggesting that the severity of psychiatric symptoms just modestly affected the performance.

Recognising MID/BIF in mental health care is essential but challenging for clinicians. The authors concluded that screening with the SCIL allows clinicians to identify patients with MID/BIF at an early stage of their admission, which helps to individualise treatment and reduce the risk of aggression, coercive measures and prolonged admissions. However, the authors prefer to assess all patients on cognitive impairment as early as possible after referral at a more stable moment in time.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, there is no research concerning screening instruments on MID/BIF used at admission wards in Mental Health Care.

Thaksin Shinawatra became the prime minister of Thailand after his Thai Rak Thai (TRT) party won 248 of the 500 seats in the 6 January 2001 election. This was the first time that a single political party had won such a mandate in Thai democratic history (Pasuk & Baker, 2009, p. 8). One month earlier, the National Counter Corruption Commission (NCCC) had charged Thaksin with concealing assets worth 4.5 billion baht on three occasions during 1997–1998, accusing him of registering these assets in the names of his housekeeper, maid, driver, security guard, and business colleagues. However, the NCCC's judgment was not upheld by the Constitutional Court, which had acquitted Thaksin on a split 8–7 decision in Thaksin's favor on 3 August 2001 (Pasuk & Baker, 2004, pp. 1, 5). If Thaksin had been found guilty by the Constitutional Court, he would have to resign as prime minister and be prohibited from holding public office for five years.