[Insight and social functioning in deficit and nondeficit schizophrenia]

Deficit syndrome is a symptom complex characterized by primary and enduring negative symptoms, therefore it is difficult to diagnose. Poorer social functioning and insight are serious issues of Schizophrenia. Both of them seems to be related with deficit schizophrenia. The present study aimed to compare insight and social functioning in patients with deficit and nondeficit schizophrenia.

Our study involved 71 patients with Schizophrenia recruited from the out patient clinic of psychiatry, Eskişehir Osmangazi University, Faculty of Medicine. Patients were diagnosed as schizophrenia by using Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID-I). Participants were evaluated by The Schedule for the Deficit Syndrome (SDS) and separated to two groups: Deficit (n=30) and nondeficit (n=41) Schizophrenia. All participants were administered Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms (SAPS), Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS), Schedule for Assessing the Three Components of Insight (SAI) and Personal and Social Performance Scale (PSP).

Compared to patients with nondeficit group, non-paranoid subtype ratio was significantly higher in deficit group. The mean SAI and PSP scores were significantly lower in the deficit group than in the nondeficit group. The mean SAPS and SANS scores were significantly higher in the deficit group than in the nondeficit group.

Our study emphasizes the importance of lack of insight and poorer social functioning in deficit schizophrenia.