Insight/lack of insight

What does it actually mean? Sometimes i think 'lacking insight' is something aimed at the service user who dares to question/disagree with the pdoc.
I have at various times been described as having a lot or little. The most classic example it being recorded i lacked insight about my schizoaffective only for the dx to be changed a year or so later.
Are pdocs always objective in labelling people 'lacking in insight' or does subjective personal bias play a part?

I think "lacking in insight" is an opinion, rather than a label. One might lack insight about a particular problem but not be lacking in insight overall. It's relatively easy when things feel personal to take a position that is protective of ourselves but might be wholly off base; I think we all know people who say or do something that makes no sense to us but, obviously, does to them.

I don't worry too much about a doctor's dx other than to learn as much as I can about it. If I disagree with it I find scientific evidence of what I believe it to be and point that out next time in the conversation. It's a discussion, not a hard and fast, "you're 61 years old, five feet five inches tall, brown hair and eyed, and your appendix burst May 9th 2003"; especially when it is about psychiatric matters.

I think ideally, the phrase is used when a person doesn't understand the difference between their own reality and (what I call) "consensual reality" or "group reality" - you can't tell the difference between what only you see/hear/feel and what the objective observer would.

But yeah, I always felt like it was pejorative when it was applied to me. I think often mental health professionals go beyond the use I said in the first paragraph and apply it to people who see the world in a different way. It's unfortunate.

I remember early on in my treatment my t said I had remarkable insight into my illness and its effects. It made her job easy because she wouldn't need to spend our valuable T time convincing me I had maladaptive behaviors or patterns of thought.

I don't know if my meds lady would agree that I am so easy to work with because I ended up telling her the side effects of lithium were not worth the benefits. I would rather take seroquel instead. Since I've been stable on that med oh well....fortunately she didn't say I lacked insight.

I agree that insight as defined by NAMI means "being compliant with others wishes to the detriment of self". Treatment teams shouldn't throw it around , it should only be used to describe when someone doesn't recognize their illness or its effects.