The Rosenhan Experiment

[DGuller]

Did you just pick a random animal, or is this a Chinese saying?

I remember there was an experiment where camels competed with experts on picking stocks.  The camels won.

Did anyone hire those camels after this experiment?

[Razgovory]

This isn't funny if you really think about it, though.  Psychiatry isn't just some harmless curiosity like astrology.  Many lives are affected by it, often by force or at least heavy-handed compulsion.  This is a pseudoscience that can destroy lives.  For all we know, many of the children diagnosed with ADD and are force-fed amphetamines are only suffering from being young (at least until they are "treated").

Is this new to you?

[garbon]

This isn't funny if you really think about it, though.  Psychiatry isn't just some harmless curiosity like astrology.  Many lives are affected by it, often by force or at least heavy-handed compulsion.  This is a pseudoscience that can destroy lives.  For all we know, many of the children diagnosed with ADD and are force-fed amphetamines are only suffering from being young (at least until they are "treated").

Is this new to you?

Seriously.

[DGuller]

This isn't funny if you really think about it, though.  Psychiatry isn't just some harmless curiosity like astrology.  Many lives are affected by it, often by force or at least heavy-handed compulsion.  This is a pseudoscience that can destroy lives.  For all we know, many of the children diagnosed with ADD and are force-fed amphetamines are only suffering from being young (at least until they are "treated").

Is this new to you?

The idea that psychiatry is more quackery than science isn't new to me, but I've never read about this experiment until today.  Now that I did, my feelings of disgust crystallized.

[Razgovory]

There is real science and medicine in there, but the big problem is that correctly diagnosing a patient in psychiatry is difficult and time consuming.  So they just make a half-hearted stab at it.

[Berkut]

I dunno, couldn't they pretty much just say "We are pretty good at diagnosing actual psychiatric issues, but not so good at telling when someone is actively and maliciously trying to deceive us".

I mean, I bet I could get doctors to prescribe medications for actual physical problems that I made up completely if I went to a hospital emergency room and just lied my ass off about there being something wrong with me - especially if I was trained to know what to say and when in order to complete the deception.

Psychiatry used communicaton with the patient as the primary means of gathering information. Of course that makes is incredibly susceptible to being manipulated.

[DGuller]

I dunno, couldn't they pretty much just say "We are pretty good at diagnosing actual psychiatric issues, but not so good at telling when someone is actively and maliciously trying to deceive us".

I mean, I bet I could get doctors to prescribe medications for actual physical problems that I made up completely if I went to a hospital emergency room and just lied my ass off about there being something wrong with me - especially if I was trained to know what to say and when in order to complete the deception.

Psychiatry used communicaton with the patient as the primary means of gathering information. Of course that makes is incredibly susceptible to being manipulated.

According to Wiki, that was indeed an objection that was raised.  It was addressed by pointing out that once people got in, they stopped acting, and yet they couldn't convince the doctors of their sanity.

[garbon]

There is real science and medicine in there, but the big problem is that correctly diagnosing a patient in psychiatry is difficult and time consuming.  So they just make a half-hearted stab at it.

I'd say finding a good psych is harder than a good GP...which makes it dreadful if you are committed to state care.