Insight in schizophrenia and mood disorders and its relation to psychopathology

The authors assessed insight on admission on the 15th, 30th and discharge day in 77 female inpatients (42 schizophrenic, 13 manic, 22 depressives) using McEvoy's Insight and Treatment Attitude Questionnaire (ITAQ) and studied its relation to psychopathology, which was assessed by completion of the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (18-item version). The data suggest that depressives had good initial (on admission) insight, schizophrenics the poorest, followed shortly by manics. Insight (ITAQ total score) improved significantly after treatment in both mania and schizophrenia. Moreover a constantly significant negative correlation existed between ITAQ and BPRS in mania but not in schizophrenia, indicating that other factors besides psychopathology might influence insight in schizophrenia.