Common sense, insight, and neuropsychological test performance in schizophrenia patients.

We report an exploratory study examining the interrelationships among common sense, insight into psychosis, and performance on a battery of neuropsychological tests in 32 patients with schizophrenia evaluated at the time of discharge from involuntary hospitalization at a State psychiatric hospital. Common sense, as measured by the Social Knowledge Questionnaire, was associated with better performance across tests measuring parietal lobe functioning and vocabulary. In addition, patients with more common sense were more likely to say that they were ill and needed treatment.

Short-term clinical prediction of assaultive behavior: artifacts of research methods.

Objective: The apparent accuracy of predictions of assaultive behavior in psychiatric inpatients varies substantially, depending on the method used to study the prediction. The authors explored the effects of different measures and sampling strategies on short-term clinical predictions of dangerousness.

Method: The index subjects were patients who were rated by intake clinicians as potentially highly assaultive on the ward (N = 32) and patients who were involuntarily committed on grounds of danger to others (N = 32).

Why must some schizophrenic patients be involuntarily committed? The role of insight.

Twenty-four of 52 (46%) schizophrenic patients hospitalized because of acute psychotic episodes associated with preadmission medication noncompliance required involuntary commitment. Committed patients were rated as significantly more severely ill than voluntary patients and were significantly more likely to be transferred to extended treatment facilities after acute care. However, committed patients were significantly less likely than were voluntarily admitted patients to acknowledge that they were psychiatrically ill and in need of treatment, i.