CHAPTER 3: On being sane in insane places
Summary
David Rosenhan wanted to test how well could the psychiatrists differentiate between the sane and the insane. With a motive to find an answer to this question, David along with his eight friends showed up at different reputed mental hospitals and said that we were hearing a noise that said "thud". After being in the ward, they acted perfectly normal and claimed that they weren't hearing the noise any more. They wanted to test if the doctors were able to distinguish them from the insane. Unfortunately, they were administered the treatment even though they were perfectly fine. This study lead to great progress in the field of psychology. The author talks about Diagnostic and Statistical Manual on Mental Disorders evolved as a result of Rosenhan’s study. Finally, she also talks about the same study repeated by herself and her findings.
Discussion
It was very interesting to read about the study and I was appalled to learn that all the psychiatrists mistakenly admitted Rosenhan and his friends. Also, when the author repeated the experiment, although she wasn't admitted, she was given anti depressants. Learning that doctors just don't want to hear no for an answer was a bit shocking.
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