Benefits and burdens of insight
What is insight? I am thinking of it from a mental health/mental illness perspective, an internal insight of the workings of the own mind. In mental health care, insight is generally regarded as being a very good thing. It means that the patient has a good understanding of their illness, the symptoms and struggles they experience consequently and what helps them to manage these. It means they know when they are unwell or becoming unwell and when they need to seek more support. A patient’s insight is assessed as part of a mental state examination. I would describe myself as having a very good insight into my mental illnesses. I have been living with them for about 12 years and in that time, I have learnt a lot about my relationship with them. Initially I had very little insight. The illnesses were new and confusing; I did not know why they were there, and I did not know what support I needed with them. At that stage I needed support and was reliant upon the expertise of others...