Introduction:

The aim of this paper is to study the degree of insight in patients with psychotic disorders and its possible relationship with psychotic and depressive symptoms.

Materials and methods:

The sample consisted of 55 patients hospitalized in a psychiatric inpatient unit with a diagnosis of non-affective psychosis. In order to assess the patients, we used the Scale to Assess Unawareness of Mental Disorder (SUMD) for clinical insight; the Beck Cognitive Insight Scale (BCIS) for cognitive insight; the Positive And Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) for psychotic symptoms; and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) for depressive symptoms. The Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) was used to assess executive functions and the Screen for Cognitive Impairment in Psychiatry (SCIP) was used to assess cognitive impairment.

Results:

A lower clinical insight is related to more positive psychotic symptoms and to less negative and depressive symptoms. There was no relationship between insight and executive functions; however, we found a relationship between insight and cognitive impairment.

Conclusions:

A lower insight in patients with psychotic disorders is related to higher scores in the PANNS positive subscale and to lower scores in the PANSS negative subscale and the BDI. Clinical insight was higher in cognitively impaired patients.

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