rosenhan

Question 1

Rosenhan study 1 aim

Answer 1

To investigate if sane people who present themselves to a psychiatric hospital would be
diagnosed as being insane.

Question 2

Rosenhan study 1 sample

Answer 2

12 different hospitals from across 5 states and included a range of different
psychiatric institutions (modern and old, well-staffed and poorly staffed, one was private).

Question 3

Rosenhan study 1 procedure

Answer 3

• The pseudopatients in the experiment included 5 men and 3 women.
• Pseudo-patients call psychiatric hospitals claiming to be hearing a muffled voice, but
  they could make out the words ‘thud’ ‘hollow’ and ‘empty’.
• Once admitted, all participants gave honest life stories.
• As soon as they had been admitted, they claimed the ‘voice’ had stopped.
• The pseudopatients were observed in a natural, participant, ‘covert’ observation.

Question 4

Rosenhan study 1 results

Answer 4

• 100% of pseudo-patients were admitted for treatment for diagnosed mental illnesses
  (schizophrenia or manic-depression- 1 person). 11/12 hospitals admitted them with
  Schizophrenia
• They remained in hospital for between 7-52 days, with a mean stay of 19 days.
• They were then released with a diagnosis of Schizophrenia “IN REMISSION”
  .
• When in hospital, normal behaviours were viewed as symptoms of the illness by
  medical staff, e.g., waiting outside the cafe for lunch = ORAL ACQUISITIVE SYNDROME
  & writing in diaries = PATIENT ENGAGES IN PATHOLOGICAL WRITING BEHAVIOUR.
• A total of 2100 pills were handed to the pseudo-patients (only 2 were actually
  swallowed).
• Each ‘real patient’ spent less than 7 minutes per day with psychiatric staff.
• 35 out of 118 patients voiced their suspicions about the pseudopatient not being a
  ‘real’ patient.

Question 5

rosenhan study 2 aim

Answer 5

to see if the tendency toward diagnosing the sane as insane could be reversed.

Question 6

rosenhan study 2 procedure

Answer 6

A teaching & research hospital was told of the first study and warned that over the
next three months one or more pseudo-patients will attempt to be admitted. In reality, no
pseudopatients were admitted into any hospital. Staff members rated ‘new patients’ on scale
1 - 10 as ‘how likely to be a fraud’. 193 patients were ‘assessed’.

Question 7

rosenhan study 2 results

Answer 7

• 41 rated as a pseudo-patient (by staff)
• 23 rated as pseudo-patient (by psychiatrist)
• 19 rated as pseudo-patient (by both)

Question 8

rosenhan conclusion

Answer 8

we are unable to detect sanity vs insanity.