[Introspection into the condition of the group of puertorican patients with mental disorders]

The purpose of this study was to explore the degree of insight towards their condition of a group of Puerto Rican mental patients. A non-probabilistic (n = 51) sample was used for convenience and availability from the total patient population with mental conditions who received treatment, during June 1997, in a Diagnostic and Treatment Center (DTC) of the Puerto Rico Department of Health. Descriptive statistics were used, as well as the Cramer chi-square and the Mann Whitney t-test. Fifty two percent of the participants had a high level of insight and the participant's gender (t = 1.92, p = 0.05). Males obtained a higher average grading in the insight scale than females. It was expected that the studied population would be stable in their conditions since they were being treated at the outpatient level. Even so, almost half of the patients had a low level of insight towards their conditions. Implications of these results are very important for health education efforts, since almost half of the patients do not understand that they suffer a serious mental disturbance.