Insight

The capacity to understand one’s own motives, to be aware of one’s own psychodynamics, to appreciate the meaning of symbolic behavior.

Self-understanding; the extent of a person’s understanding of the origin, nature, and mechanisms of his or her maladaptive attitudes and behavior. Sometimes used to indicate whether an individual is aware that he or she has a mental disorder or that his or her symptoms have a psychiatric cause.

A sudden grasp or understanding of the significance and relationships of factors.

The ability of a person to realise that he or she is ill or has particular problems or characteristics.

The awareness and comprehension of the origin and importance of one’s own feelings, attitudes, actions, and emotional symptoms. Psychotherapy often seeks to support and deepen insight, thereby allowing the person to see his or her issues more clearly and take steps to resolve them. In problem solving, insight refers to a sudden perception that results in a correct solution.

Knowledge of oneself. The term is applied particularly to a patient’s recognition that he has psychological problems; in this sense absence of insight is a feature of psychosis. The term is also applied to the patient’s accuracy of understanding the development of his personality and his problems; in this sense insight is enhanced by psychotherapy.

A person’s knowledge of him or herself. The description is especially relevant to a person’s realization that he or she has psychological difficulties. Thus, someone with a psychosis lacks insight. Insight also refers to an individual’s concept of his or her personality and problems.

Self-understanding; comprehension of one’s circumstances; the opposite of denial.

Insight refers to the awareness of one’s own mental condition. Broadly speaking, it involves recognizing one’s strengths, weaknesses, and capabilities.