Jp. Mcevoy et al., COMMON-SENSE, INSIGHT, AND NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL TEST-PERFORMANCE IN SCHIZOPHRENIA-PATIENTS, Schizophrenia bulletin, 22(4), 1996, pp. 635-641
We report an exploratory study examining the interrelationships among
common sense, insight into psychosis, and performance on a battery of
neuropsychological tests in 32 patients with schizophrenia evaluated a
t the time of discharge from involuntary hospitalization at a State ps
ychiatric hospital. Common sense, as measured by the Social Knowledge
Questionnaire, was associated with better performance across tests mea
suring parietal lobe functioning and vocabulary. In addition, patients
with more common sense were more likely to say that they were ill and
needed treatment. A global measure of insight, the Insight and Treatm
ent Attitudes Questionnaire (ITAQ), was related to performance on a te
st of left parietal lobe function. However, the responses to the ITAQ
item that may best reflect current awareness of mental illness in pati
ents at the time of discharge (''After you are discharged, is it possi
ble you may have mental problems again?'') were related to performance
on tests of the functioning of the prefrontal lobes and the right and
left parietal lobes. These results add to the growing evidence that s
ome of the deficits in awareness of illness among patients with schizo
phrenia are related to the neuropsychological dysfunction commonly see
n in patients with this disorder.