Insight and recovery and the stigma of mental illness - analysis of the phenomenon of insight in schizophrenia and its correlations with the processes of stigma and self-stigma

Abstract

Abstract Does better insight associated with the process of recovery mean a stronger sense of mental illness stigma? This article presents the relationship between a multidimensional construct, which is the insight and the phenomena of stigma and self-stigma of patients diagnosed with schizophrenia. It is well known that the term insight contains: a sense of illness, the patient's attitude to its symptoms, explanation of the causes of the illness, attitude to the rationale of treatment and awareness of the risk of relapse. On the other hand, self-stigma occurs when the patient internalizes and refers to himself/herselfnegative and stigmatizing social attitudes, conditioned by the presence of conventionalbeliefs, strengthened by the media, and this weakens the process of recovery. How much does good insight strengthen the patient on the way to fuller social functioning, and how much does it imprint stigma of mental illness and weaken its positionin society? The authors of the paper are discussing the subject of insight and stigma from the patient's perspective, over the patient’s attitude towards the diagnosis of schizophrenia, the process of recovery and the aspect of hope - important in recovery. These study of construct insight shows that the relationship insight-recovery-stigma is a multi-dimensional plane, dependent on various factors, that needs constant deepening and complementing with further research.