Abstract
Pervasive refusal syndrome, first described in 1991, is a rare and life threatening illness which has been found to occur in children. It is characterized by partial or complete refusal to eat, mobilize, speak, or attend to personal care, active, and angry resistance to acts of help and encouragement as well as social withdrawal and school refusal. These symptoms have to be severe enough to result in hospitalization to meet the proposed diagnostic criteria. This condition until now has only been described in children and it is our belief that we have come across an adult with an intellectual disability who had two episodes of pervasive refusal syndrome and who has now made a full and sustained recovery. This finding would have implications not only on the understanding of the condition, but also on the need to revise the diagnostic criteria as the life circumstances of an adult differ from those of children in that they would not refuse to go to school, but may instead refuse support from carers or withdraw from education, or vocational activities.
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