Insight Psychopathology and Executive Function in Inpatients with Schizophrenia.

INTRODUCTION: Insight is defined in the Webster’s dictionary as ‘the understanding or Awareness of one's mental or emotional condition; especially, a recognition that One is mentally ill’. Insight is an elusive concept with a long history of divergent and Inconsistent definitions and measurements (Amador & David, 1998). Until the early nineteenth century, the official view of insanity was Based on the presence of delusions which were, in turn, embedded in an Implicit lack of insight. Lack of insight was thus not a variable but a parameter Of insight (Amador and David, 2004). The developments of concepts such as partial, emotional and volitional Insanity during the second half of the nineteenth century led to the examination Of the value of evaluating the attitude of patients vis a vis their insanity (Markova and Berrios, 2004). The term “anosognosia” was first used by the French neurologist Babinski to describe denial of motor deficits in neurological disease. Traditional views of insight considered it to be a single homogenous Entity which was non reducible and hence rated as a single item however Interest in this area has been revived by many current authors who have Proposed new models to understand and explain insight. Interest in studying insight is also fueled by an increasing desire to Elucidate the correlates of insight and its causal origins. This desire is Strengthened by studies which point to a key role of insight in mediating Treatment compliance and outcome. Research into insight is also influenced by current theories of Schizophrenia which consider enduring neurocognitive deficits due to brain Dysfunction as being a core component of the disorder. However despite being the focus of intensive research in the past Decade, though much progress has been made in the measurement of insight, The foundations of impaired insight are still remain elusive. Studies focusing on The relation between neuropsychological deficits and insight are often Contradictory and hampered by methodological, operational and consistency Problems