title: Insight into current symptoms of schizophrenia. Association with frontal cortical function and affect.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Examine whether frontal lobe dysfunction or affective experiences correlates with lack of symptom awareness in schizophrenia.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 122 consecutive adult schizophrenia outpatients were assessed cross-sectionally with standard rating scales of psychopathology and of insight, and underwent neuropsychological assessment with a battery of tests sensitive to frontal lobe dysfunction. Correlational analyses were used to determine relationships between variables.
  
  
  RESULTS
  About 62% of patients had at least partial awareness of symptoms. Anxiety correlated modestly with insight into the abnormal nature of positive and negative symptoms. No cognitive variable was significantly correlated with symptom awareness.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The pathological nature of symptoms is better recognized by patients who experience dysphoric affect. Neither severity of psychotic symptoms nor frontal lobe cognitive deficits correlates to symptom awareness. Lack of insight, which can be partial for symptoms of the illness, might be a non-reducible symptom of schizophrenia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. ofreud@massmed.org
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Freudenreich
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Deckersbach
authors.forename: D C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Goff
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D000368:Aged; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000473:pathology* / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010045:Outpatients; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D019455:Self Psychology