Reference Information
Title: Opening Skinner's Box: Great Psychological Experiments of the Twentieth Century
Author: Lauren Slater
Editor: W.W Norton & Company, 2008
Chapter 3: On Being Sane in Insane Places
Summary
This chapter discussed the experiments of David Rosenhan, which consisted of faking his way into a mental institution, then acting normally and seeing if the psychiatrists would detect his sanity. Eventually, they released the experimenters due to "remission", but before that happened, they got to experience inhumane treatment and being treated as insane. The author discussed the ramifications of this experiment, and the refinements psychiatric codes experiences afterwards. The author then conducted her own experiment of the same nature, with some notable results.
Discussion
I find it amusing that the author conducted her own experiment in the same fashion, with differing results. She wasn't admitted, and was treated much nicer; however, she was still diagnosed and given prescriptions for unnecessary drugs. Also, I find it interesting that in Rosenhan's experiment, the psychiatrists seemed to be unaware of his sanity, but the actual patients in the institution had figured out what was going on.
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