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Institute of Psychiatry, London and Christian Medical College, Vellore, India
Christian Medical College, Vellore, India
Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, London, UK
Correspondence: Professor Anthony David, Section of Cognitive Neuropsychiatry, PO Box 68, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF, UK. Email: a.david{at}iop.kcl.ac.uk
Funding detailed in Acknowledgements.
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ABSTRACT |
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Aims To determine whether culturally specific and Western biomedical interpretations of insight and psychosis can be reconciled.
Method Patients with schizophrenia (n=131) were assessed during their first contact with psychiatric services in Vellore, South India. Patients'explanatory models, psychopathology and insight were investigated using a standard schedule translated into Tamil.
Results Supernatural explanations of symptoms were frequent. Some insight dimensions were weakly associated (inversely) with severity of symptoms whereas preserved insight was associated with anxiety, help-seeking and perception of change. Willingness to attribute symptoms to disease, in others and in one's self, but notto supernatural forces was strongly associated with insight.
Conclusions The relationship between insight, awareness of illness and other clinical variables is similar in South India to elsewhere. However, the assessment of insight might have failed to capture locally accepted explanatory frameworks. An inclusive conceptual model which emphasises help-seeking is recommended.
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INTRODUCTION |
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There is a consensus about the nature of insight emerging from systematic reviews and meta-analyses. For example, there is a weak but consistent inverse relationship between psychopathology and insight, with the exception of anxiety and low mood, which are positively associated with insight (Mintz et al, 2003; David, 2004). Intellectual ability, particularly executive functioning, seems to be related to insight (Keshavan et al, 2004; Morgan & David, 2004; Aleman et al, 2006). Another frequent observation is that patients are more able to recognise and label certain behaviours as the consequence of mental illness in others than they are the same behaviours in themselves (McEvoy et al, 1993; Swanson et al, 1995; Chung et al, 1997; Startup, 1997). However, some authors (Moodley & Perkins, 1993; Johnson & Orrell, 1995) have questioned what they regard as the Western conceptualisation of insight, arguing that it is overly biomedical and fails to allow for social constructions and culturally appropriate explanatory models of mental illness (for a discussion see Saravanan et al, 2004).
In this study we investigated the effect of culture, psychopathology and other clinical variables on insight of patients with schizophrenia in South India to determine which aspects are common across cultures and which are culture-specific. We tested the following hypotheses: (a) the relationship between insight and psychotic and depressive symptoms is similar to that in Western populations assessed in the same way; (b) a tendency to ascribe illness to another rather than oneself is inversely related to insight; (c) explanatory models, elicited in a standardised manner, are independent of clinician-rated insight.
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METHOD |
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Sample
The study group consisted of patients with schizophrenia having their first
contact with mental health services and living within a 100 km radius of the
study site. Patients were carefully screened for a DSM–IV diagnosis of
schizophrenia (American Psychiatric
Association, 1994) and then interviewed at intake using the
Structured Clinical Interview for DSM–III–R–Patient Version
(SCID–P; Spitzer et al,
1990) to confirm the diagnosis. Patients with a primary diagnosis
of substance use disorder, mood disorder or organic mental disorder were
excluded. Patients meeting inclusion criteria and providing written consent
were interviewed as soon as possible after the start of treatment for
psychosis, with all patients assessed within a week of the onset of treatment.
Patients were informed that the purpose of the study was to assess their level
of awareness about their illness, but were unaware of the specific hypotheses.
A semi-structured interview was used to elicit data regarding demographic
characteristics (age, gender, marital status, religion, education, employment,
duration of illness and economic data).
Assessments
All assessment instruments were independently translated into the local
language (Tamil) by two health professionals. The vernacular version thus
obtained was then back-translated into English by two different bilingual
professionals. The four translators then arrived at a consensus on the final
vernacular version. Content, semantic, technical and conceptual equivalence of
the Tamil version of the instruments was examined regularly during the process
of translation. Assessments were administered by a local research psychiatrist
trained in their use.
Insight
The expanded version of the Schedule of Assessment of Insight (SAI–E;
Kemp & David, 1997;
Sanz et al, 1998) was
used for assessment of insight. This has been applied widely in Western and
non-Western countries (Kulhara et
al, 1992; Aga et
al, 1995) and comprises questions to assess three dimensions
of insight: awareness, relabelling of symptoms and adherence, plus a
`hypothetical contradiction' item added to evaluate the person's capacity to
consider another's perspective. Each dimension comprises two or three
questions which are scored on a 3-point scale from 0 (no insight) to 2 (good
insight), with a maximum total score of 24. The supplementary question is
scored from 0 to 4 and this is added to the total score. This expanded version
also includes items on awareness of change, difficulties resulting from the
mental condition and insight into key symptoms.
Explanatory model interview
The Tamil version of the Short Explanatory Model Interview (SEMI;
Lloyd et al, 1998;
Joel et al, 2003) was
used to elicit patients' attributions of their presenting complaints; their
previous help-seeking behaviour (including visiting a temple, a
shamam/mantrawadi, a traditional healer, or a doctor); their causal models
(e.g. previous deeds/karma, evil spirits, punishment by god, black magic, or
disease); perceived consequences (change in the body or mind); and their
expectations regarding the index consultation. The SEMI, which combines
open-ended questions and a case vignette with a structured coding frame, has
been used successfully in a variety of countries and cultures, including India
(Manoharam et al,
2001). The vignette described a young man with florid psychotic
symptoms (see Appendix). Participants were asked the same range of questions
regarding illness attribution for the vignette and the help-seeking they would
advise for such a person.
Psychopathology
The Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS;
Ventura et al, 1993)
and the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF;
Endicott et al, 1976)
were used to assess psychopathology. The BPRS total score and a depression
subscale (investigating guilt, low mood and suicidality) were utilised.
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RESULTS |
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Insight and psychopathology
There was no significant correlation between BPRS total score and
SAI–E total score (Pearson's r=–0.13, P=0.1),
general awareness (r=–0.05) or treatment adherence sub-scales
(r=–0.15). However, a significant negative correlation was
observed between the relabelling dimension of the SAI–E and BPRS total
score (r=–0.2, P=0.04). Of the individual items on the
BPRS, anxiety showed the strongest (positive) correlation with SAI–E
total score and with the illness awareness items (r=0.25 and 0.28
respectively, P<0.01).
Explanatory models
Table 2 shows the
relationship between insight and responses to the SEMI summarised according to
major theme. The 18 patients who endorsed a disease explanation had
significantly higher scores on the SAI–E, indicating greater insight.
Most patients acknowledged social (but not occupational) dysfunction and that
their well-being had been affected; and these had higher insight scores than
those who did not. There was a significant inverse correlation between
non-biomedical beliefs and insight scores. Patients who held such beliefs,
most commonly regarding black magic (n=94), but also those who
attributed their problems to evil spirits, previous deeds and punishment by
god, tended to have lower insight scores. Patients were frequently unsure or
unable to give a definite attribution of their illness and this tended to be
associated with low insight scores.
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Awareness of illness – case vignette
Patients were more likely to judge the person described in the vignette as
having an illness or disease (n=63) than they were to make this
attribution about themselves (n=18; 
2=13.9, d.f.=1,
P<0.001), excluding those making attributions to neither
(n=66). Slightly fewer patients judged the person described in the
vignette to be suffering from the effects of black magic (n=81,
61.8%) than they themselves (n=94, 71.8%; 95% CI–21.3 to 1.4,
NS).
Factors associated with insight
A stepwise conditional logistic regression analysis was performed with
total insight score as the dependent variable, entering psychopathology,
endorsed explanatory models, pathways to care and other clinical variables,
controlling for age, gender and education and other demographic factors. This
identified causal attribution (disease as a positive predictor and black magic
as a negative predictor), the perceived consequences item of the SEMI and
presence of help-seeking as factors significantly associated with insight
(Table 3).
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DISCUSSION |
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Psychopathology
There was some evidence to support the hypothesis that insight is related
to the psychopathology of schizophrenia. We found a weak but significant
inverse correlation between total BPRS score and the relabelling dimension of
insight, and a positive relationship between insight total score and indices
of anxiety and worry. Given that correlations were in opposite directions, it
is not surprising that the overall correlation was non-significant, although
the weight of psychosis items has usually outweighed the mood/anxiety items in
previous studies (for review see David,
2004). Nevertheless this pattern is in line with studies carried
out in both high- and low- and middle-income countries
(Kulhara et al, 1992;
Aga et al, 1995;
Mintz et al, 2003;
David, 2004). The strength of
the correlations was modest, bolstering the argument that insight and
psychopathology are not merely two sides of the same coin. Lower insight
scores were seen in patients brought to the clinic involuntarily, as expected
from previous studies (McEvoy et
al, 1989; David et
al, 1992). The lack of correlation with scores of social
functioning is again in line with some
(Bartkó et al,
1988; Schwartz,
1998; Simon et al,
2004) but not all previous studies
(Amador et al, 1994;
Trauer & Sacks, 2002), and
might reflect the particularly low levels of social functioning (and small
variance) in this patient sample. As in previous studies, duration of illness
and gender were not determinants of insight.
The association between insight and symptoms of anxiety – assessed somewhat crudely using the BPRS – may be predicted on the basis of previous work (Amador et al, 1996; Mintz et al,2003; Rathod et al, 2005), but the direction of causality is by no means clear. The received wisdom is that anxiety and lowered mood are a reaction to illness awareness, but it is equally plausible that anxiety leads to a more self-critical attitude, akin to `depressive realism'. Whatever the explanation, this pattern of associations appears not to be culturally specific.
Explanatory models
Insight was also evaluated indirectly using a vignette that forms part of
the SEMI. In line with our second hypothesis, a pattern was seen wherein the
person in the vignette was readily labeled as having a mental illness whereas
patients rarely used this attribution for themselves. This pattern has been
observed in other vignette studies in the UK, USA and Asia
(McEvoy et al, 1993;
Swanson et al, 1995;
Chung et al, 1997;
Startup, 1997). The
self–other comparison overcomes the criticism levelled at cultural
comparisons in psychiatry that the `content' of attributions, delusions,
hallucinations etc. may differ but that this is a relatively trivial
consideration. Previous vignette studies show that the `medical model' is an
available heuristic to people with major mental illness, including those in
South India. This is not surprising given the high levels of literacy and
rapid cultural transition – first through colonisation and subsequently
through globalisation – affecting that part of the world. It is of
course highly likely that complex illness attributions of the kind elicited
have been around in Asia for centuries, but here we are talking about a
narrower Western biomedical model. The pattern of responses in relation to
self and others might be described as an example of self-serving bias, a
common, perhaps universal, defensive cognitive style
(Pronin et al, 2004).
It is understandable that a person might be uncomfortable in ascribing to
themself a diagnosis of mental illness, given the stigma that this carries
and, perhaps, implications of blame. However, the alternative explanations of
behaviour such as black magic or past misdeeds are not value free. The meaning
and implications of mental illness within cultures are clearly varied, and we
are undertaking further detailed qualitative work to explore this.
Finally, we tested the hypothesis that indigenous explanatory models or `emic perspectives' would be independent of insight. The study showed that the expression of culturally appropriate illness attributions (e.g. evil spirits, black magic, etc.) was common. Adherence to such ideas was deemed, at best, not consistent with high levels of insight or, at worst, indicative of poor insight as judged by psychiatrists from the same culture. In the case of black magic, this illness attribution predicted significantly lower levels of insight in the multiple regression analysis after controlling for other factors. However, the same analysis revealed a strong association between awareness of the consequences of illness, early help-seeking and level of insight, elicited separately through the open-ended SEMI in a way that did not rely upon the conventions of a psychiatric interview. This supports the notion that insight or an awareness of illness that is adaptive in terms of appropriate help-seeking might easily be missed if the assessment of insight is undertaken in a rigid culturally insensitive way (Saravanan et al, 2004).
Our results compliment a recent study of second-generation minority ethnic groups in the UK of West African, Caribbean and Bangladeshi origin. This study found that there was an association between attribution of illness to supernatural phenomena – not invoked by the White UK comparison group – and poorer insight as assessed using the SEMI (McCabe & Priebe, 2004). We also noted a tendency for those who were unsure whether disease or supernatural forces accounted for their state to have low insight scores. This might imply that any attribution is better than none.
Conclusions
We have shown that insight is amenable to study in a non-Western setting
using standard assessment instruments. Patients with schizophrenia, wherever
they are, appear to vary in their willingness to accept an illness attribution
for their state, but are more likely to do so if they are anxious and if
considering someone else's predicament rather than their own. However, the
study supports a more inclusive conceptual model for assessing insight which
emphasises help-seeking. This will be of value not just for clinical and
research work in non-Western countries but for a richer understanding of the
experience of the individual in their cultural context
(White et al, 2000;
McCabe & Priebe, 2004).
Understanding the relationship between cultural variations of insight and
prevailing belief systems will be a step forward in designing interventions to
enhance engagement of patients with mental health services in Western and
non-Western countries.
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APPENDIX |
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`I'd like to ask your opinion about some other peoples' visit to the doctor. I'd like to read a short account of their problems and then ask you a few questions about them.'
Mr M.E. was hospitalised at the age of 18. He was single and lived with his parents. His relatives described that he functioned quite well as a child and that he was well adjusted at school until the age of 11–12. At that age he became preoccupied with strange ideas and for this reason he saw a psychiatrist weekly for about 1 month. This treatment, which did not include any mediction, had a positive effect on his worries, but he became more withdrawn and participated in fewer social activities in the months to come. Before hospitalisation he felt that others could hear his thoughts and he also felt that a `satanic' group living in his native place were persecuting him. In a mysterious way he felt that this group did `black magic' against him and that they could influence his body from a long distance. He could feel this as a pain in his stomach. These symptoms lasted for several months. At the time of hospitalisation he felt that his brain was damaged and `empty', and that `someone' was inserting thoughts into his head. He was withdrawn and preoccupied with the idea that the `black magic' that they had done might have destroyed his brain tissue.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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REFERENCES |
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Received for publication August 1, 2006. Accepted for publication November 8, 2006.
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