Cognitive insight in individuals at clinical high risk for psychosis
Year: 2013
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: AIM: Reduced cognitive insight has been associated with psychotic symptoms, in particular with the presence of delusions; however, there is little information about whether such reductions are present in at-risk individuals prior to the onset of threshold psychotic symptoms. METHOD: We conducted a cross-sectional comparison of cognitive insight (as indexed by the Beck Cognitive Insight Scale) in 62 help-seeking individuals at clinical high risk for psychosis, Fifty-nine individuals with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders and 37 healthy controls (HC). In patients, we evaluated associations of insight with positive symptoms, including later transition to psychosis in high-risk patients. RESULTS: Individuals with schizophrenia reported significantly higher self-certainty scores than the at-risk patients and HCs, with the at-risk patients scoring intermediate to the individuals with schizophrenia and controls. Similarly, individuals with schizophrenia scored significantly higher on self-reflectiveness, with no differences between the at-risk patients and controls. In individuals with schizophrenia, delusions were significantly correlated with self-certainty. In at-risk patients, cognitive insight was not associated with positive symptom severity and did not differentiate those at-risk patients who later developed psychosis from those who did not. However, post hoc analyses suggested that at-risk patients with marked unusual thought content (approaching threshold psychosis) had lower self-reflectiveness; whereas those with high suspiciousness had significantly higher self-certainty. CONCLUSIONS: The findings are discussed in the context of normal developmental processes occurring during adolescence, their putative links to neurobiological functioning, and their implications for treatment and future research.
Source: Early Intervention in Psychiatry
DOI: 10.1111/eip.12023
Language: English
Subfield: Psychiatry and Mental health
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1532437952