To remind the clinical and legal practitioner that anosognosia is a recognised facet of schizophrenia with implications for capacity assessment and for relating effectively with people who experience it.
Conclusions:
The term anosognosia emphasises that, in schizophrenia, lack of capacity is the result of a neurological deficit. Under-appreciation of this may place that person at risk of a preventable harm.
DouglassAYoungGMcMillanJ. Assessment of mental capacity. Wellington, VIC: University of Wellington Press, 2020.
5.
ReuvencampIDawsonJ. Mental capacity law in New Zealand. Wellington, New Zealand: Thomson Reuters, 2019.
6.
MarkovaISBerriosGEThe construction of anosognosia. Cortex2014; 61: 9–17.
7.
American Psychiatric Association: Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. 5th ed. Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Association, 2013.
8.
McGlynnSMSchacterDL. Unawareness of deficits in neuropsychological syndromes. J Clin Exp Neuropsychol1989; 11: 143–205.
9.
EdelstynNMJOyebodeF. A review of the phenomenology and cognitive neuropsychological origins of the capgras syndrome. Int J Geriatr Psychiatry1999; 14: 48–59.
GrayJEO’ReillyR. Supreme court of Canada’s ‘Beautiful Mind’ case. Int J Law Psychiatry2009; 32: 315–322.
12.
HuttonPEmsleyRStavertJ, et al. Accelerating the development of a psychological intervention to support treatment decision-making capacity in psychosis: feasibility of an Umbrella trial. Edinburgh: Chief Scientist Office, Health Improvement, Protection and Services Research Committee, 2019.
13.
StroupTSAppelbaumPSGuH, et al. Longitudinal consent-related abilities among research participants with schizophrenia: results from the CATIE study. Schizophr Res2011; 130: 47–52.