Relationship between Insight and Spirituality in Individuals with Schizophrenia

The primary aim of this study was to understand the relationship among insight into illness and spirituality in patients with schizophrenia. Patients diagnosed with schizophrenia according to ICD-10 (F20-F20.9) were approached and explained about the purpose of the study. Initially patients were screened out on BPRS to rule out severe psychopathology. Only those patients who fulfilled the inclusion and exclusion criteria and provided written informed consent were recruited. Sociodemographic and clinical details were obtained from the patients, care givers and treatment records. Following this, patients were asked to complete the Birchwood’s Insight Scale (BIS) and FACIT-SP-12 scale. Applied statistical methods were Descriptive statistics, Non-parametric test (Mann-Whitney U- test and Kruskal-Wallis test) and Pearson product moment correlation method. In this study significant negative correlation was found between total insight scores and “peace” domain of spirituality; on the other hand total spirituality score was significantly negatively correlated with “awareness of disease” domain of insight. The domain of “awareness of disease” also negatively correlated with “peace” domain of spirituality.