Disorganization and Insight in Schizophrenia

Abstract

According to current findings, deficits of self-awareness and conscious experience play an important role in psychobiology of schizophrenia, and therefore, schizophrenia is recently understood as a disorder characterized by distortions of the acts of awareness, self-consciousness, or self-monitoring. These findings are consistent with other studies suggesting that thought disorder and disorganization in schizophrenia are caused by deficits in brain integrative functions reflected by disturbed gamma synchrony reported in patients with schizophrenia, which remind original Bleuler’s concept of splitting. Main implications of these findings suggest that mental disorganization in schizophrenia may reflect brain disintegration which might provide new perspectives for understanding relationships between clinical symptoms and pathophysiological mechanisms of schizophrenia.