Awareness of illness and outcome in schizophrenia

The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether awareness of il lness affects specific measures of outcome in schizophrenia. Patient awaren ess was evaluated using a shortened version of the Scale to Assess Unawaren ess of Mental Disorder (SUMD). Patient outcome was assessed by means of the Strauss-Carpenter scale. Our findings indicate that lack of awareness of " negative symptoms" has a considerable impact on outcome: in fact "Social Co ntacts" highly correlated with Blunt Affect, Anhedonia and Asociality items on the SUMD. Lack of awareness seems then to be a powerful predictor of po or outcome.