Insight and neuropsychological function in patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder with psychotic features.

Objectives: This study investigates the pattern of association between patient unawareness of illness and neuropsychological tests of frontal lobe function in subjects with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder (BD) with psychotic features.

Method: We administered the Wisconsin Card Sort Test (WCST) and a shortened version of the Scale to Assess Unawareness of Mental Disorder (SUMD) to a sample of 64 patients with psychosis (42 with schizophrenia and 22 with BD).

Results: None of the correlations between WCST scores and insight scores were statistically significant, either in the total group or in each group analyzed separately.

Subjective experiences in schizophrenia and bipolar disorders.

Studies comparing 'subjective experiences' in schizophrenic and affective disorders have reached inconclusive results. We investigated the pattern of 'subjective perceived cognitive disturbances' in a group of 55 schizophrenic patients and 39 bipolar patients hospitalized for an index psychotic episode. The assessment of the subjective experiences was made using the Frankfurter Beschwerde-Fragebogen (FBF).