Variability in Insight Before and After Treatment in Patients with Schizophrenia

Introduction: An important component in the management of schizophrenia is insight. Schizophrenia patients that lack insight have poor clinical outcomes. Chronic patients of chronic schizophrenia lacking insight more often require hospitalisation than those recognising their illness. Poor insight is a good indicator of poor compliance and can predict the prognosis of any psychiatric patient including schizophrenia. Aim: This study was aimed at contrasting the gain in insight after treatment among various sub-groups of patients with schizophrenia. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at the Acharya Vinobha Bhave Rural Hospital, Wradha, Maharashtra. The sample size was collected for a period of 1 year, during which all the patients admitted to the psychiatry ward were screened, of which 100 eligible patients with schizophrenia were identified using prespecified inclusion and exclusion criteria. Patients of both sexes aged above 18 years and attendants that provided consent were included in the study. The Schedule for Assessment of Insight Scale (SAI) was used to determine the patient’s level of insight. The proportion of patients with distinct socio-demographic characteristics, clinical profile, psychiatric diagnosis and SAI scores were calculated. A paired t-test was used for elaborating the results. The p-value <0.05 was considered significant. Results: The changes in insight scores from the time of admission (4.15) to the time of discharge (9.28) were statistically significant and similar in both males and females and also results are statistically significant according to marital status. Significant improvement was seen in patients irrespective of their employment status or their educational status. Conclusion: This study showed that the insight changes as the patient improves during the hospital stay. This study highlights that poor insight is commonly seen in psychotic patients and the treatment considerably improves their insight.

Abstract licence: CC BY-NC-ND

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