Insight, psychosis and ethnicity: a case-note study.
Recent literature on insight has paid little attention to patients' social backgrounds and cultures. Discharge summaries from 357 patients with a psychotic illness were examined to investigate factors associated with insight. A highly significant association was found between British white ethnic origin and being thought by the admitting psychiatrist to have some insight. Possible explanations include: different ways of understanding mental illness in different cultures, greater stigma leading to greater denial of illness in some cultures, greater illness severity at admission in some ethnic groups and racial bias in psychiatrists' ratings.
Johnson
S
S
Maudsley Continuing Care Study, Institute of Psychiatry, University College London Medical School.
Orrell
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M
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology; D000368:Aged; D001208:Asia / Q000208:ethnology; D001294:Attitude to Health / Q000208:ethnology*; D044383:Black People; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008499:Medical Records / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011570:Psychiatry / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012647:Self-Assessment; D012938:Social Perception; D006113:United Kingdom; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology