Rosenhan (1973) 'On being sane in insane places'
- Created by: Em
- Created on: 04-04-16 11:51
View mindmap
- Rosenhan (1973) 'On being sane in insane places'
- Aim
- To tell how psychiatrists could distinguish real patients with schizophrenia from pseudo patients, who faked a single symptom.
- Procedure
- Rosenhan himself and 7 volunteers, 5 of whom were doctors or psychologists arrived at a range of mental hospitals (12) reporting a single symptom
- Hearing voices saying 'empty' 'hollow' and 'thud'
- Once admitted, they then acted normally, co-operating with staff and seeking to be released ASAP.
- When asked, they reported no further symptoms. The pseudo patients recorded the responses of doctors and nurses when they spoke to them
- In a follow-up procedure staff at another hospital were informed that 1 or more pseudo patients would present over the next few months
- Staff at this hospital were asked to rate all new patients on a 1-10 scale for how likely each new admission was to be a pseudo patient
- No pseudo patients approached them; the fact was to see how many real patients were misidentified
- Staff at this hospital were asked to rate all new patients on a 1-10 scale for how likely each new admission was to be a pseudo patient
- Once admitted, they then acted normally, co-operating with staff and seeking to be released ASAP.
- Hearing voices saying 'empty' 'hollow' and 'thud'
- Rosenhan himself and 7 volunteers, 5 of whom were doctors or psychologists arrived at a range of mental hospitals (12) reporting a single symptom
- Results
- All 8 pseudo patients were admitted to hospitals
- The average stay was 19 days (range 7-52 days)
- in 30% of the cases, real patients made comments to the effect that the pseudo patients had nothing wrong with them
- 71% of doctors and 88% of nurses completely ignored the pseudo patients when they tried to speak to them
- Conclusion
- The study revealed 2 major weaknesses in the psychiatric system of the time
- The environment has a major impact on the process of diagnosis and in the hospital environment staff could not tell the mentally disordered from the mentally healthy
- Once labelled with a condition like schizophrenia,patients find it difficult to escape the label and be judged as 'normal'
- The study revealed 2 major weaknesses in the psychiatric system of the time
- Evaluation
- Rosenhan used a range of hospitals in different states on both coasts so allows results to be generalised
- The study demonstrates both the limitations of classification and importantly the appalling conditions in many psychiatric hospitals.
- This has stimulated much further research and has lead to many institutions improving their philosophy of care.
- The hospital staff were deceived - unethical. Although Rosenhan did conceal the names of hospitals or staff and attempted to eliminate any clues which might lead to their identification
- Ethics- medication would have been harmful to pseudo patients if swallowed
- Although the pseudo patients went into the study understanding what they had to do it would have been distressing being unable to get discharged
- No mention of a debrief so nurses and doctors may have felt shame and embarrassment and would have not been able to express it
- Ethics- medication would have been harmful to pseudo patients if swallowed
- The hospital staff were deceived - unethical. Although Rosenhan did conceal the names of hospitals or staff and attempted to eliminate any clues which might lead to their identification
- This has stimulated much further research and has lead to many institutions improving their philosophy of care.
- The study demonstrates both the limitations of classification and importantly the appalling conditions in many psychiatric hospitals.
- Field experiment so fairly ecologically valid whilst still managing to control variables such as the pseudo patients behaviour
- Participant observation meant that the pseudo patients could experience the ward from the patients perspective while also maintaining some degree of objectivity
- Rosenhan used a range of hospitals in different states on both coasts so allows results to be generalised
- Aim
Comments
No comments have yet been made