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Comparisons of insight in schizophrenia, bipolar I disorder, and depressive disorders with and without comorbid alcohol use disorder.

Yen CF, Chen CC, Cheng CP, Yen CN, Lin HC, Ko CH, Yen JY, Chen CS

Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

AIMS: To compare the level of insight among six groups of patients with psychiatric disorders, including those with schizophrenia (SZ), bipolar I disorder (BP), or depressive disorders (DD) who had or did not have comorbid alcohol use disorder (AUD). METHODS: A total of 285 outpatients meeting the aforementioned criteria were recruited into the study. The Schedule of Assessment of Insight-Expanded version (SAI-E) was used to measure subjects' insight. Analysis of covariance (ancova) was used to compare the levels of insight among the six groups of subjects. RESULTS: Regardless of whether patients had comorbid AUD or not, patients with DD had higher levels of insight than did patients with SZ. Comorbid AUD had independent effects on the differences in the level of insight between patients with DD and BP and between patients with BP and SZ. No statistically significant difference in insight was found between patients with the same psychiatric diagnosis with and without comorbid AUD. CONCLUSIONS: In addition to psychotic features and clinical states, comorbid AUD should be taken into consideration when comparing the level of insight among patients with different psychiatric diagnoses.

Published 10 December 2008 in Psychiatry Clin Neurosci, 62(6): 685-90.
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