Am J Psychiatry 1990; 147:295-298
Copyright © 1990 by American Psychiatric Association
Subjective awareness of abnormal involuntary movements in chronic schizophrenic patients
G Caracci, S Mukherjee, SD Roth and P Decina
Department of Psychiatry, College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, New York, NY.
The authors examined the effects of verbal and visual feedback on
subjective awareness of involuntary movements in 20 chronic schizophrenic
patients. At initial evaluation only 25% of the patients were fully aware
of their movement disorder. Both verbal and visual feedback resulted in
significant immediate enhancement of awareness. However, assessment of
awareness 2 weeks later showed a return to prefeedback baseline levels.
Lack of awareness of involuntary movements was associated with a lack of
awareness of psychiatric disorder, and both were associated with a longer
duration of illness.
