The Study That Shook The Psychiatry World: The Rosenhan Experiment
In 1973, a study named “On Being Sane in Insane Places” shocked psychologists and psychiatrists all around the world. For them, nothing could ever be the same again. Let’s see what made it so remarkable.
The Rosenhan experiment was conducted by a psychologist named David Rosenhan, and it’s been considered to be one of the most striking studies in the field since then.
How did he conduct the experiment?
Rosenham did not conclude the study at this point. He went on stirring the pot...
Things kept getting weirder: All the patients were diagnosed with illnesses.
Doctors were still not convinced...
The initial results of the experiment created great controversy among psychiatrists.
Rosenhan accepts the challenge...
After the second part of the study is over, psychiatrists yield.
Rosenhan wrote 'it is clear that we cannot distinguish the sane from the insane in psychiatric hospitals...' “But what can be said of the 19 people who were suspected of being 'sane' by one psychiatrist and another staff member? ... There is no way of knowing. But one thing is certain: any diagnostic process that lends itself too readily to massive errors of this sort cannot be a very reliable one.”
There is one more striking side of the story.
In the first part of the experiment, some patients at the hospital suspected that the first group of pseudopatients sent by Rosenhan were faking their symptoms. To be more specific, 35 out of 188 told some of the group that they could not be really insane. “You’re not crazy. You’re a journalist, or a professor. You’re checking up on the hospital” patients claimed they were told.
Hospital staff, however, never noticed that they were “pseudo” patients.
In conclusion, the Rosenhan Experiment succeeded to leave its mark on the psychiatry world for good.
After the study was published, the American Psychiatric Association changed the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Also, Rosenhan’s experiments contributed to the reforms at the psychiatric hospitals and the idea of releasing a patient started to become more acceptable for the medical staff.
Well, it is once again understood that scientific improvements can change the course of history, thanks to such pathbreaking people like Rosenhan...
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