Measuring Insight: A Comprehensive Look at Its Core Elements

The present article discusses the concept of insight in terms of the scales in the literature that measure or assess insight. A search of Google Scholar and PubMed using the terms 'insight scale', 'insight questionnaire', 'insight survey', 'insight checklist', 'insight inventory' and ‘insight + major psychiatric diagnostic categories’ identified 44 scales that assess 6 different insight themes: 1) psychological insight, 2) cognitive insight, 3) clinical insight, 4) therapeutic insight 5) social insight, 6) Buddhist insight. Psychological insight is the state of awareness and understanding of one's own feelings, thoughts, beliefs, behaviours, personality, traits and whatever belongs to the self and the self's relationship with the environment. Cognitive insight assesses how inclined and intentional the person is to reflect on the cognitions he/she holds and at the same time how firmly he/she holds to his/her beliefs and cognitions and how much he/she believes in their accuracy. Clinical insight assesses awareness of the illness, importance of the symptoms and awareness of the cost of the illness. Psychotherapeutic insight is a type of insight that can be related to the patient's therapeutic rapport, in which the patient's awareness of himself or herself and the relationship he or she establishes with his or her environment during the sessions. While social insight brings the construct of insight a social context, Buddhist insight is an introspection or insight which is the aim of Buddhist or mindfulness practice. In conclusion, insight has a complex and unique construct which causes confusion while identify it comprehensively. Although there is an abundance of work on insight in the literature, there is still some way to go to elucidate this concept.