A self-report Insight Scale for psychosis: reliability, validity and sensitivity to change.
Lack of insight is a frequent concomitant of psychosis and has traditionally been viewed as a binary, all or none phenomenon. Recent conceptualization has formulated insight as a continuum representing the juxtaposition of 3 factors--awareness of illness, need for treatment and attribution of symptoms. Measurement of insight has been exclusively based on interview; this method does not easily lend itself to frequent repeated measurement and requires interrater reliability to be established. A self-report Insight Scale is presented, and evidence in support of its reliability, validity and sensitivity is provided that includes a sample of 30 patients monitored during recovery from an acute psychosis. The scale is a quick and acceptable measure that may find application in investigations of acute care, cognitive therapy of psychotic symptoms and as a method of augmenting clinical judgements of insight.
Birchwood
M
M
Academic Department of Psychology, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom.
Smith
J
J
Drury
V
V
Healy
J
J
Macmillan
F
F
Slade
M
M
D000328:Adult; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001364:Awareness / Q000187:drug effects; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010343:Patient Admission; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D012008:Recurrence; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012803:Sick Role
D014150:Antipsychotic Agents