Abstract
Insight in Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is currently viewed as a dimensional phenomenon, with poor-insight forms posited at the more severe end of a OCD continuum or, alternatively, as expression of an underlying schizophrenia spectrum.
Aim of the present study was to evaluate exhaustively the role of clinical features of OCD (severity of obsessions and concomitant depressive symptoms) and of trait conditions (personality traits and basic symptoms of schizophrenia) on the levels of insight over obsessive–compulsive phenomena, adopting a pure dimensional approach.
Fifty OCD outpatients were administered the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (YBOCS), the Brown Assessment of Beliefs Scale (BABS), the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D), the Frankfurt Complaint Questionnaire (FCQ) and the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-5 (SCID-5). Current comorbid depressive or psychotic diagnoses represented exclusion criteria.
Poor insight was significantly correlated with the severity of obsessive symptoms and with obsessive–compulsive and schizotypal personality traits, while no correlations were found with depressive symptoms or with prepsychotic subjective experiences of schizophrenia. OCD severity resulted the only predictor of poor insight, as confirmed by regression analysis.
Therefore, even though poor-insight OCD may underpin different psychopathological pathways, poor-insight is mainly associated with a higher OCD severity.
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Data Availability
The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author, M.T. The data are not publicly available due to ethical and privacy restrictions.
Code availability
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References
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Ottoni, R., Pellegrini, C., Mora, L. et al. Psychopathology of insight in obsessive–compulsive disorder. Curr Psychol 42, 14760–14768 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-02806-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-02806-8