Subjective perception of cognitive deficit in psychotic patients.

The objective of this study is to evaluate the subjective perception of cognitive deficit and how it relates to the perception of patients' relatives. Differences between the subjective perception of cognitive deficits in 107 DSM-IV-diagnosed psychotic patients and that of their relatives or caregivers were evaluated using the GEOPTE Scale. Fair agreement was observed between patient and family perception of cognitive functions, although there were important differences on those items that correspond to social functioning. A high degree of correlation was detected between the scores on this scale and clinical global impression scores, as well as the physicians' global impression of cognitive impairment. Psychotic patients maintain insight as to their cognitive deficits, but they fail to conserve an awareness of their perception of social functioning.