Being Sane And Insane Places

In the article ‘Who’s Crazy Here, Anyway?’, Rosenhan’s reason for research was because Rosenhan doubted whether the characteristics that lead to psychological diagnoses reside in the patients themselves or in the situations and contexts in which the observers find the patients. The hypothesis generated by Rosenhan was, that the staff will recognize the sanity of the patients, question their diagnosis and follow to release them. The objective was to observe whether personal or environmental factors dictate mental health diagnosis and professional treatment. Rosenhan recruited eight subjects which consisted of three women and five men, one graduate student, three psychologists, one pediatrician, one psychiatrist, one painter, and one homemaker.

This article begins by discussing the history of mental illness, going as far back as the 1700s. It goes over professionals in the field, the incidence rate, and treatments, all of this from the different time periods throughout the United States. The author also makes a point to acknowledge the different perceptions there were in the past of mental

Even though asylum classifications stayed moderately constant for a century, there was a development in the thinking about insanity. One of Pinel’s scholar proposed the idea that there could be a distinct mood faculty in a category of its own in the 1830’s. Jean-Dominique Etienne Esquirol, who explained a deep sadness, lypemanie as a distinct disorder. The fact that mania or insanity could create shifting manifestations had presented little difficulty, however, they had problems with the fact that two clinical states being so different could be caused by the same underlying disease state. In order to overcome these conceptual problems, Falret and Baillarger proposed a disorder that had changing cycles of mania and melancholia of certain length

On the note of the research question, Rosenhan sought to see if psychiatrists could detect “normal” people who were institutionalized as

Apart from medical technology and medications, the housing treatment has played a great role in improving the treatment of mental illness since the early 1990s. First and foremost, in the past the patients of mental illness were treated as prisoners by being isolated in hospitals or asylums but now they are treated as normal human beings with great care and respect. Secondly, in the past the patients stayed in the hospitals for long periods of time, whereas nowadays patients stay in their home community for most treatments. Only in severe cases, such as violent patients or those who cause harm to themselves may be required to stay in hospitals or more intense observation. Another form of housing treatment is community treatment in which the patients are treated in a friendly way while in

During the 1800s, treating individuals with psychological issues was a problematic and disturbing issue. Society didn’t understand mental illness very well, so the mentally ill individuals were sent to asylums primarily to get them off the streets. Patients in asylums were usually subjected to conditions that today we would consider horrific and inhumane due to the lack of knowledge on mental illnesses.

Being socially acceptable was a necessity for maintaining a healthy lifestyle in the early 1800s but for the mentally ill, the cruelness of society took hold. In 1808, Europe constructed the first insane asylum, and their definition of “moral principles” were drastically different than they are today. In order for a clinical psychologist's work ethic to help with the improvement of others’ mental health, they should view the mentally ill as their equals, construct proper institutional care, and provide the use of effective medication. For the sake of the mentally ill’s recovery, well balanced citizens who lived in Europe during the 1800s had to treat everyone, no matter their mental state, with dignity and respect.

For centuries societies have been superstitious and afraid towards mental illness; mainly due to a lack of knowledge. While there were “cures and treatments” for individuals that were deemed insane many were sent to either prisons or asylums. The conditions of these facilities were unsanitary, the physical and sexual abuse was frequent, and the staff was not properly trained to care for patients. Patients were also chained, caged, or restrained to beds in rooms that were often unheated.

Wright, D. (1997). Getting out of the asylum: understanding the confinement of the insane in the nineteenth century. Social History of Medicine, 10, 13

The mental institute’s patients are divided into two group, acutes and chronics. The chronics are described as people that have no chance of recovery from their state of mind, and will be in the institution forever. “Chronics are in for good, the staff concedes. Chronics are divided into Walkers, Wheelers, and Vegetables” (16). The acutes are described as people that have a chance of being cured and released from the institute. These patients are somewhat functional people with slight mental instabilities, “the doctors still figure them sick enough to be fixed” (15). This community includes Dale Harding, Billy Bibbit, Charles Cheswick, Martini, and many others. Before McMurphy’s arrival, Harding is considered as the voice of

In the beginning of each protagonist’s journey and conflict exhibits, the ineffectiveness of mental institutions as the authors describes the protagonists’ situation. N’s initial situation exposes the unproductivity and dehumanisation towards the psychiatric patients:

Lauren Slater’s, On Being Sane in Insane Places, takes the reader on a journey showing how psychiatry has changed since the 1970’s. David Rosenhan’s experiment of whether psychiatrists could accurately diagnose mental stability was the catalyst for her own experiment. Her quest to see if Rosenhan’s experiment can be duplicated, clearly shows her mental stability is questionable. I believe the psychiatrists in her experiment may have accurately diagnosed her.

The sociological imagination is a perspective coined by sociologist C. Wright Mills that urges individuals to understand their life experiences and societal happenings by analyzing both past and present occurrences within society and within themselves. Mills describes the sociological imagination as, “A quality of mind that will help [people] use information and develop…lucid summations of what is going on in the world and what may be happening within themselves” (Mills 1959). The reasoning behind this perspective is that all our actions are influenced by social institutions, which in themselves are created by individuals and shaped by history. Therefore, Mills suggests, that only through looking both inwards and outwards will people be able

A variety of treatment techniques were present in the mental facility. We will examine those of McMurphy, Nurse Ratchett, and the head doctor. Nurse Ratchett and the head

I was able to read the complete article “On Being Sane In Insane Places”, and found it very informative. This article is describing an experiment were, eight sane people admitted themselves to 12 different psychiatric hospitals. Were they describe their diagnostic experiences and their description of their experiences in the psychiatric hospitals. Firstly, that sane people would put their selves through something like this is interesting.