Correlates of poor insight: A comparative fMRI and sMRI study in obsessive-compulsive disorder and schizo-obsessive disorder

Background: Despite the several researches on the correlates of insight in psychosis, less is known regarding the specificity of disease diagnosis on the relationship between insight and the correlates. The current study sought to explore the effects of insight and disease diagnosis on those in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and patients with schizo-obsessive disorder (SOD). Methods: We evaluated clinical symptoms and neurocognitions among 111 patients (including 41 OCD with good insight, 40 OCD with poor insight, 14 SOD with good insight and 16 SOD with poor insight. Gray matter volume and spontaneous neural activity were also examined by analyzing the voxel-based morphometry and amplitude of low frequency fluctuation (ALFF), respectively. Results: Interactive effects of insight and diagnosis was found on working memory and the gray matter volume in right superior and middle temporal gyrus. Main effect of insight was found on working and visual memory, compulsion and obsession, and ALFF in right middle and superior occipital cortex. Main effect of diagnosis was found on severity of compulsion, relative verbal IQ, executive function, verbal and visual memory, working memory and ALFF in precuneus, medial superior frontal gyrus, anterior cingulate and paracingulate gyri, and inferior parietal, postcentral gyrus, paracentral lobule. Conclusions: As a common feature in mental disorders, insight has its own special influence on neurocognition and possible structural/functional alterations in brain, and the influence is partly dependent of disease diagnosis.

Automated summary

This study explores the effects of insight and disease diagnosis on clinical symptoms, neurocognition, and structural/functional alterations in the brain among patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and schizo-obsessive disorder (SOD). The study findings indicate that there is an interactive effect of insight and diagnosis on working memory and gray matter volume in the right superior and middle temporal gyrus. Furthermore, insight has significant effects on working memory, visual memory, compulsion, obsession, and spontaneous neural activity, while diagnosis has significant effects on the severity of compulsion, verbal IQ, executive function, memory, and neural activity in various brain regions.