COMMON-SENSE, INSIGHT, AND NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL TEST-PERFORMANCE IN SCHIZOPHRENIA-PATIENTS

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.