On Being Sane In Insane Places

1 On Being Sane in Insane Places Rosenhan’s study, “On Being Sane in Insane Places” caused a lot of controversy in the field of psychiatry. Rosenhan and eight other participants agreed to attempt to have themselves admitted into a psychiatric hospital on the assumption that they were hearing a voice. As Rosenham stated, the voice they were hearing would say something along the lines of, “I am hearing a voice. It is saying thud (page 65).” Rosenhan wanted to see if people claiming to hear voices would be admitted into a psychiatric hospital and labeled with some kind of mental illness or if maybe they would be prescribed medication that would alter their state of mind. Rosenhan was, without a second guess, admitted. Once he was inside, he went back to being normal. At one point he even stated to the doctor, “You know, the voice isn’t bothering me anymore (page 67).” Rosenhan once claimed, “that diagnosis is not carried within the person, but within the context, and that any diagnostic process that lends itself so readily to massive errors of this sort cannot be a very reliable one.” Being admitted and put on medication due to hearing voices or being released on the diagnosis of being in remission is quite ridiculous. Rosenhan had validity to his claims. They were all admitted without a second thought. All were given medications, even after going back to being normal. They were all kept in the psychiatric hospitals for many days. The doctors, nurses and other staff just gave the patients their medications and went on about their routine. Never once wondering if any of the patients were truly sick. Rosenhan once claimed that, “mental patients are invisible…unworthy of account (page 68).” His claims were that the pseudo patients were released on the diagnosis of being in remission. Which doesn’t necessarily claim that the participants were diagnosed with a mental illness, just that maybe they were schizophrenic at some point. Psychiatrists use a diagnostic tool, DWS, to determine the illness of a patient. If one doctor claims a patient is depressed, then the next doctor will say the same thing because they all read and learn from the manual. As mentioned in Rosenhan’s (1973) study, being labeled with a mental disorder can follow a person throughout life, school, work, home, etc. In return it could cause a lot of problems for not only the patient, but those who are somehow involved with the patient. The diagnosis of someone who doesn’t truly have a mental disorder, could result in the person thinking they really have that mental illness. Being able to diagnose a person shouldn’t be as simple as them claiming to hear voices and being admitted to be treated with medication that could cause more damage than being helpful. Does a psychiatrist really know the difference between a person who truly has a disorder or is it just easier to load them up on medications to the point that the patient doesn’t know reality? Both Rosenhan and Spitzer both have valid arguments. Rosenhan proved, with his participants, that even a normal person pretending to be ill could get into a psychiatric hospital. Spritzer had a valid point that none of them were really diagnosed, but were in remission. After Rosenhan’s study, the manuals were rewrote to try to avoid the “normal’ person from being admitted into a hospital. Spitzer even stated, “that experiment could never be successfully repeated. Not this day and age.” With that being said, it was tried again with the same claims of hearing a voice that said “thud.” This time the pseudo patient was evaluated, diagnosed with being psychotic and depressed. She was prescribed two strong medications and sent home. In the weeks following she tried it numerous times at different hospitals. To no surprise they all prescribed her medications and sent her home. I believe that no matter how many years a person goes to school or how many patients a doctor sees, there will always be the question of a diagnosis. We are all learning everyday. Rosenhan had a valid point about people being diagnosed even when they were pretending. Even though they were in “remission” they were diagnosed as having some sort of mental illness at some point.