Impaired introspective accuracy in schizophrenia: an independent predictor of functional outcomes.

INTRODUCTION

Individuals with schizophrenia present across a spectrum of symptomatology. Disability remains a debilitating reality across varying disease presentations and remains pervasive despite psychiatric medications. Cognition (neuro/social cognition) and negative symptoms have emerged as the strongest predictors of real-world disability, but account for <50% of the variance in outcomes.

METHODS

Our attempts to determine what accounts for the remaining 50% of variance has shown that poor introspective accuracy (IA) may be the most potent predictor of functional outcomes 25% of individuals with schizophrenia. We define IA as the adequacy of self-assessments of ability, skills, performance, or decisions. We suggest that IA is a progression of metacognition and can extend beyond cognition to include misestimation of prior and likely future performance in social or other adaptively relevant situations.

RESULTS

Additionally, IA is bidirectional and self-orientated. Emerging research has found that IA of neurocognitive ability better predicts everyday functional deficits than scores on performance-based measures or neurocognitive skills and has found that IA of social cognition accounts unique variance in real-world disability above social cognitive performance.

DISCUSSION

We argue that impaired IA, affecting 25-50% of patients with schizophrenia, in the absence or minimal presence of other impairments might be the most powerful predictor of functional outcomes.