Studies suggest that approximately one-third of individuals with schizophrenia improve in awareness of their illness when they take antipsychotic medication. Studies also suggest that a larger percentage of individuals with bipolar disorder improve on medication.
Impaired awareness of illness is the single biggest reason why individuals with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder do not take medication. They do not believe they are sick, so why should they? Without medication, the person’s symptoms become worse. This often makes them more vulnerable to being victimized and committing suicide. It also often leads to rehospitalization, homelessness, being incarcerated in jail or prison, and violent acts against others because of the untreated symptoms.
In Ohio, 115 people with schizophrenia who had committed violent acts for which legal charges were incurred were compared to 111 individuals with schizophrenia who had no history of violent acts. The violent individuals had “marked deficits in insight” and were much more symptomatic. Compared to the nonviolent individuals, those who had been violent scored significantly lower on awareness of mental disorder, awareness of achieved effect of medications, and awareness of social consequences of mental disorders