Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Lack of relationship between psychological denial and unawareness of illness in schizophrenia-spectrum disorders

2009; Elsevier BV; Volume: 169; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.psychres.2008.07.010

1872-7123

Carrie L. Kruck, Laura A. Flashman, Robert M. Roth, Nancy S. Koven, Thomas W. McAllister, Andrew J. Saykin,

Psychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments

Numerous theories have been proposed to explain the unawareness of illness that is commonly seen in schizophrenia-spectrum disorders, including the theory that unawareness is the result of a psychological denial mechanism used to mitigate the emotional consequences of having a psychiatric illness. The present study was an attempt to determine whether increased denial (in the form of self-deception) is associated with impaired awareness, consistent with the denial theory. Participants included 40 patients with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders and 25 healthy comparison participants. Patients' levels of awareness and symptom attribution were assessed through interview, and all participants completed self-report questionnaires measuring mood symptoms as well as their use of self-deception. Awareness of negative symptoms was associated with increased depression. However, self-deception was not significantly correlated with awareness measures. When patients were divided on the basis of their awareness and attribution scores, no group differences emerged regarding use of self-deception. The patient group and the healthy comparison group did not differ in their use of self-deception. The current results do not support the psychological denial theory of unawareness of illness in schizophrenia-spectrum disorders.