Elsevier

Comprehensive Psychiatry

Volume 39, Issue 4, July–August 1998, Pages 215-219
Comprehensive Psychiatry

Compliance with neuroleptic medication in outpatients with schizophrenia; relationship to subjective response to neuroleptics; attitudes to medication and insight

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0010-440X(98)90063-3Get rights and content

Abstract

The relationship between compliance, subjective response to neuroleptics, attitudes to medication, and insight was assessed in a selected group of individuals with schizophrenia who were attending a catchment area outpatient psychiatric service. Regular compliers with medication reported a significantly better subjective response to neuroleptics and were more frequently prescribed depot medication compared with individuals who were irregularly compliant. There was no difference between regular and irregular compliers in terms of attitudes to medication or level of insight. There was a significant correlation between the measures of insight obtained using a self-report questionaire (the Insight Scale [IS]) and a semistructured interview (the Scale for Assessment of Insight [SAI]).

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      One explanation for the discrepancy between these studies may lie in differences in the cognitive impairment measures used and study designs. Antipsychotic side effects could influence noncompliance and reluctance to accept treatment of schizophrenia [32-34]. Available research suggests that extrapyramidal side effects, and the related features of neuroleptic dysphoria, sedation, weight gain, and sexual dysfunction may influence medication compliance [32-34].

    • The 4-Point ordinal Alliance Self-report: a self-report questionnaire for assessing therapeutic relationships in routine mental health

      2009, Comprehensive Psychiatry
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      A separate topic assessment of TR could provide an independent outcome measure that is relevant to adherence. It could also be of interest to analyze correlations between TR and other predictive variables of adherence such as insight [25], attitudes toward neuroleptics [26], or subjective well-being. Our results must be cautiously interpreted considering the fact that the study was carried out on an inpatient population.

    • Attitudes toward medication in inpatients with schizophrenia: A cluster analytic approach

      2008, Psychiatry Research
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      The positive attitude items that more frequently had scores of ‘3’ suggest that patients with positive ATM are driven by individual motivations (perceived benefits and fear of rehospitalization), personality traits such as sensitivity to authoritative pressures and a positive family climate about medication. Denial of illness represents a major reason for negative attitudes; lack of insight may be associated with poor compliance (Kamali et al., 2001; Adewuya et al., 2006), but this is not a consistent finding (Garavan et al., 1995). Another prominent reason for negative ATM was opposition to medication.

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    Supported by the Theodore and Vada Stanley Research Foundation (USA) and the St. John of God Order.

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