title: Awareness of illness and outcome in schizophrenia.
abstract: The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether awareness of illness affects specific measures of outcome in schizophrenia. Patient awareness was evaluated using a shortened version of the Scale to Assess Unawareness of Mental Disorder (SUMD). Patient outcome was assessed by means of the Strauss-Carpenter scale. Our findings indicate that lack of awareness of "negative symptoms" has a considerable impact on outcome: in fact "Social Contacts" highly correlated with Blunt Affect, Anhedonia and Asociality items on the SUMD. Lack of awareness seems then to be a powerful predictor of poor outcome.
authors.affiliation: Unità Operativa di Psicologia Clinica Villa Serena, Città S. Angelo, Italy. a.rossi@villaserena.it
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rossi
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Arduini
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Prosperini
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kalyvoka
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Stratta
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Daneluzzo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001294:Attitude to Health; D001364:Awareness; D002746:Chlorpromazine / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D014150:Antipsychotic Agents; D002746:Chlorpromazine