[A historical analysis of "insight" category in psychiatry].

This work presents a historical analysis of the formation and development of "insight" category (awareness of illness) in the process of interdisciplinary collaboration between psychiatry, psychology and social sciences. Different meanings of the term "insight" and their impact on the modern perception of the awareness of illness phenomenon are analyzed. The differences in particular aspects of the clinical reality described by insight and other concepts used in the studies of awareness of illness are highlighted. The need for introduction of a new conventional category "insight" for studying the problem of awareness of a mental illness and perspectives of their empirical investigation.