Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Dedication
- Preface
- Part I Historical and Clinical
- 1 Historical overview
- 2 The psychological perspective: Gestalt, cognitive and psychoanalytic
- 3 Insight in clinical psychiatry: empirical studies
- 4 Insight in organic brain syndromes: insight into neurological states
- 5 Insight in organic brain syndromes: insight into dementia
- Part II Conceptual
- References
- Index
4 - Insight in organic brain syndromes: insight into neurological states
from Part I - Historical and Clinical
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 October 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Dedication
- Preface
- Part I Historical and Clinical
- 1 Historical overview
- 2 The psychological perspective: Gestalt, cognitive and psychoanalytic
- 3 Insight in clinical psychiatry: empirical studies
- 4 Insight in organic brain syndromes: insight into neurological states
- 5 Insight in organic brain syndromes: insight into dementia
- Part II Conceptual
- References
- Index
Summary
Introduction
Over the past 10–15 years, and paralleling the interest in the empirical examination of insight in ‘functional’ psychiatric disorders, there has likewise been a proliferation of studies focusing on exploring patients' insight into organic brain syndromes, particularly, dementias (Marková & Berrios, 2000; Clare, 2004). Studies in this area have concentrated predominantly on examining the relationship between patients' insight and clinical variables, e.g. the severity or type of brain lesion/dementia, the presence of affective disorder, etc. There has been, in addition, more emphasis on developing specific measures to assess insight as well as on exploring possible neurological and neuropsychological mechanisms underlying impaired insight. As with studies on insight in functional psychiatric disorders, outcomes have yielded variable and inconsistent results (Marková & Berrios, 2000). Many of the problems encountered in the empirical study of insight in functional psychiatric disorders, such as, differences in the definitions of insight and underlying concepts, differences in methods of assessing insight and different outcome measures employed, are likewise evident in the studies of insight in patients with dementia and are likely to be contributing to the variability in results. However, there are, in addition, issues more specific to the exploration of insight in dementia and these also need to be considered.
Firstly, the clinical status of the dementias themselves is of particular significance. Dementias, or chronic organic brain syndromes, are conditions which, in contemporary times, cross different clinical disciplines, occupying neurological, neuropsychological, psychiatric, etc., domains in clinically relevant ways.
- Type
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- Information
- Insight in Psychiatry , pp. 128 - 150Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2005