INSIGHT IN CLINICAL-PSYCHIATRY REVISITED

Current research on insight in psychiatry has focused on exploring the relationship between insight and other clinical variables such as sev erity of psychopathology, compliance with medication, general outcome, and, more recently, neuropsychological impairments. However, the stud ies yield divergent and inconsistent results, and consequently the rol e of insight in relation to such variables remains unclear. We review here recent studies in this area and suggest that one reason for varia bility in the results relates to confusion surrounding the term ''insi ght.'' It is argued here that more conceptual work is needed to help c larify the meaning of insight before further empirical research is und ertaken. Some of the conceptual issues are raised, and it is suggested that the concept of insight is first differentiated from the phenomen on of insight (its clinical representation) to facilitate a more struc tured and systematic approach to the examination of insight in clinica l practice. (C) 1995 by W.B. Saunders Company