Insight change and its relationship to subjective well-being during acute atypical antipsychotic treatment in schizophrenia.
OBJECTIVE
Poor insight is prevalent among patients with schizophrenia and improved insight is one of the major goals of treatment. The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between insight and subjective well-being during acute treatment of schizophrenia with atypical antipsychotics in a naturalistic clinical setting.


METHODS
Forty inpatients with schizophrenia were examined before and 8 weeks after the initiation of new treatment with atypical antipsychotics.


RESULTS
There were significant correlations between changes in insight and those in psychopathology and global functioning. The change in insight score was significantly correlated with that in subjective well-being score, indicating that the improvement in insight was positively related to improved subjective well-being. This correlation remained significant even after controlling for the influence of psychopathology. The insight score at baseline was also significantly correlated with the subsequent change in subjective well-being score.


CONCLUSIONS
The improvement of insight was positively correlated not only with that of psychopathology and global functioning, but also with that of subjective well-being, suggesting the potential value of interventions that improve patients' awareness of the nature of their illness and the need for pharmacological treatment.
Department of Psychiatry, Gil Hospital, Gachon University of Medicine and Science, Namdong-Gu, Incheon, South Korea. jhnp@chol.com
Jong-Hoon
JH
Kim
Jun-Hyung
JH
Ann
Jinyoung
J
Lee
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001294:Attitude to Health; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult
D014150:Antipsychotic Agents