[Research into the formation of proportions of "insight vs lack of insight" in paranoid schizophrenia].

The relevant literature was reviewed, focusing on available evidence which emphasizes common occurrence of lack of insight among the sufferers of schizophrenia. The opinion has long been considered one-sided as it ignores occurrence of partial insight. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to attempt to find out to what extent the patient can afford to have insight and when he or she fails in doing so. A group of 100 paranoid schizophrenics were examined and both "insight and lack of insight" scales were applied. The results negate the hypothesis that insight does not take place in schizophrenia. A quarter of those examined displayed partial insight, with 16% of them showing pronounced insight indicating some awareness of changes in their psychic state due to "some" unidentified pathological factors. Different approaches and hypotheses were taken into consideration that would oscillate between the two extreme attitudes of insight and lack of insight. Contiguity between the examined phenomenon and that of coexistence of logically correct trains of thought with incorrect ones, as it occurs in hypomaniacal states, were indicated. An attempt to explain the so-called McEvoy's riddle was made. Final conclusion: It can be assumed that the interpenetration of the two antithetic trains of thought, where one displays partial lack of insight and the other partial insight, may be particularly characteristic of schizophrenia, more so than lack of insight.