NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF LACK OF INSIGHT IN BIPOLAR DISORDER - APRELIMINARY-REPORT

In 16 inpatients with acute mania, neuropsychological evaluation revea led a trend toward correlation between less insight (lower scores on t he Insight and Treatment Attitudes Questionnaire, ITAQ) and improved d elayed visual recall. This result may either reflect the absence of a relationship between neuropsychological abnormalities and lack of insi ght in bipolar disorder, or it may represent an indirect expression of frontal lobe dysfunction. Also, an association was found between incr eased number of previous hospitalizations and greater insight. Since t he neuropsychological result noted above was Limited to patients with more than six previous hospitalizations, an interaction may exist betw een number of previous hospitalizations and neuropsychological abnorma lities in the development of insight. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Scie nce Ireland Ltd.