The Rosenhan Experiment

[jimmy olsen]

Was inspired to do a little research on the mentally ill by the Batman shooting and found this. Totally fucked up. I think a situation like that could eventually drive a sane man crazy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosenhan_experiment

The Science article can be found here.
web.archive.org/web/20041117175255/http://web.cocc.edu/lminorevans/on_being_sane_in_insane_places.htm

The Rosenhan experiment was a famous experiment into the validity of psychiatric diagnosis conducted by psychologist David Rosenhan in 1973. It was published in the journal Science under the title "On being sane in insane places."[1] The study is considered an important and influential criticism of psychiatric diagnosis.[2]

Rosenhan's study was done in two parts. The first part involved the use of healthy associates or "pseudopatients" (three women and five men) who briefly simulated auditory hallucinations in an attempt to gain admission to 12 different psychiatric hospitals in five different states in various locations in the United States. All were admitted and diagnosed with psychiatric disorders. After admission, the pseudopatients acted normally and told staff that they felt fine and had not experienced any more hallucinations. Hospital staff failed to detect a single pseudopatient, and instead believed that all of the pseudopatients exhibited symptoms of ongoing mental illness. Several were confined for months. All were forced to admit to having a mental illness and agree to take antipsychotic drugs as a condition of their release. The second part involved an offended hospital challenging Rosenhan to send pseudopatients to its facility, whom its staff would then detect. Rosenhan agreed and in the following weeks out of 193 new patients the staff identified 41 as potential pseudopatients, with 19 of these receiving suspicion from at least 1 psychiatrist and 1 other staff member. In fact Rosenhan had sent no-one to the hospital.

The study concluded, "It is clear that we cannot distinguish the sane from the insane in psychiatric hospitals" and also illustrated the dangers of dehumanization and labeling in psychiatric institutions. It suggested that the use of community mental health facilities which concentrated on specific problems and behaviors rather than psychiatric labels might be a solution and recommended education to make psychiatric workers more aware of the social psychology of their facilities.

[Razgovory]

What you didn't know this?  If they were actually good at detecting mental illness, half the staff would be locked away.

[Admiral Yi]

The second part involved an offended hospital challenging Rosenhan to send pseudopatients to its facility, whom its staff would then detect. Rosenhan agreed and in the following weeks out of 193 new patients the staff identified 41 as potential pseudopatients, with 19 of these receiving suspicion from at least 1 psychiatrist and 1 other staff member. In fact Rosenhan had sent no-one to the hospital.

Ossum.

[garbon]

What you didn't know this?  If they were actually good at detecting mental illness, half the staff would be locked away.

Tim is an odd bird.

[Scipio]

This is not news.  Nor is it surprising.  Nor do I care.

[jimmy olsen]

What you didn't know this?  If they were actually good at detecting mental illness, half the staff would be locked away.

Tim is an odd bird.

Not being crazy, and not knowing any personally that's crazy,  why should I know much about the mental health care system?

[garbon]

Don't you claim to know something about history?

[jimmy olsen]

Don't you claim to know something about history?

Yes, and that would include specific knowledge of modern health institutions, why? Politics, war, art and culture is what I read I'm interested in history, not procedural regulations of asylums or law enforcement agencies beyond Supreme Court cases that have addressed those issues, or cultural reform movements like those of the early 19th century that have addressed those issues.

[dps]

Don't you claim to know something about history?

Yes, and that would include specific knowledge of modern health institutions, why? Politics, war, art and culture is what I read I'm interested in history, not procedural regulations of asylums or law enforcement agencies beyond Supreme Court cases that have addressed those issues, or cultural reform movements like those of the early 19th century that have addressed those issues.

Uhm, because you need good general knowledge in order to provide context to historical knowledge?  Otherwise, it's just trivia. 

[The Brain]

So one guy knew better than the entire medical staffs of major institutions? He could diagnose people 100%? He was wrong, got called on it and blamed the system. We should invite him to Languish. 

[Ideologue]

Tim, don't take their shit.  I had read about this before, but had largely forgotten about it.  Good on you for reminding me.  You do God's work, my friend.

[jimmy olsen]

Don't you claim to know something about history?

Yes, and that would include specific knowledge of modern health institutions, why? Politics, war, art and culture is what I read I'm interested in history, not procedural regulations of asylums or law enforcement agencies beyond Supreme Court cases that have addressed those issues, or cultural reform movements like those of the early 19th century that have addressed those issues.

Uhm, because you need good general knowledge in order to provide context to historical knowledge?  Otherwise, it's just trivia.

Politics, war, art and culture is general knowledge. The details of diagnoses in mental hospitals circa 1970 is extremely specific.

[Martinus]

I have not heard about it before but this is 40 years old. It's not like the state of mental care was that great back then. Homosexuality was considered a mental disease and certain groups of people were being forcibly sterilized.

It would be interesting to see the results of a similar study done today but as it is, it is non-news.

[Martinus]

So one guy knew better than the entire medical staffs of major institutions? He could diagnose people 100%? He was wrong, got called on it and blamed the system. We should invite him to Languish. 

Good point. Especially if you consider that most psychiatrists are insane.

[Iormlund]

Good point. Especially if you consider that most psychiatrists are insane.

I tend to sleep on either one side or facing the bed. But after the operation I couldn't move, so I had to sleep on my back.
It hurt a lot, in part due to my own back problems and in addition I guess due to the sorry state of my core muscles after being cut and pulled during surgery.
The result was that I wasn't able to sleep more than 2 hours a night, and only after I had some chemical help.
I complained each day, but other than trying different sleeping pills, the docs did nothing to help, apparently thinking I was a pill junkie or something. Finally they called psych.
A few more days passed. A week had gone by, having slept just a dozen hours in that time. By then I could shift to either side, relieving pain somewhat. That morning I also got lucky, and my roommate was down in surgery, so I had the place to myself.
For the first time in a week, I managed to get asleep, some time after breakfast.
And that's when three shrinks show up. The two students sit back and the other guy fucking wakes me up and says: "Hello, we're from psychiatry, and we're here to help you sleep."
I was incapacitated, else I would've defenestrated the bastards.