This particular experiment took place back in 1973 and is very well-known in the world of psychology.  Not sure how many of you actually know of it, but it would be interesting to know your thoughts concerning the matter, analyzing its faults and successes.

Purpose:  To determine the abilities/methods of psychiatrists and observe the events that take place within psychiatric wards.

Methods and results:

Study 1:
-Eight “pseudo-patients” were admitted to a psychiatric hospital.
-After admission, they took notes.
-Psychiatrists did not detect them, but other patients did.
-Normal behaviors were viewed as pathological (i.e. taking notes).
-Patients were treated as invisible.

Study 2:
-Hospitals were told that they’d be admitting a pseudo-patient.  They never did.
-Staff estimated 10% were pseudo-patients.

Results/Conclusions:
-Psychiatrists cannot reliably tell the difference between people who are sane and those who are insane.
-Study 1:  failure to detect sanity.
-Study 2:  failure to detect insanity.

Feel free to probe away.  I don’t want to goad anyone into any direction (whether or not you believe the experiment was a complete success), but, for the most part, I agree with the criticisms of Robert Spitzer (humans possess the ability to deceive well).  Of course, I also believe that the experiment itself, yielded some interesting points and conclusions.  Today’s hospitals are indeed, different from those in the 70s, but the fundamentals are still there (and keep in mind, ‘for argument’s sake’).  This experiment, as you can guess, was detrimental to the reputation of the hospitals and psychiatric wards in general.

For more detail, visit the source or for more detail and an easier read, wikipedia!

Post edited at 7:54 pm on Sep. 6, 2006 by anonymousss

-------
Roses are red, violets are blue, I'm a schizophrenic...
...And so am I

Then again, it still wouldn't surprise me. People are freaky like that.

edit: Ahh! What? This is an intellectual topic? Damnit...expect revisions to my statement in that case.

Post edited at 7:58 pm on Sep. 6, 2006 by snowfish

-------
I probably don't even mean it.
---
queer Native mixed pride

If you sat someone down in front of a psychiatrist to be evaluated, I wouldn't assume that he'd fuck it up because one hospital wasn't re-analyzing all of their patients at all times.

-------
"Drop to your knees and direct your mouth to my crotch."
-Trent

As for the mental health side of things, again it's not the job for mental health nurses to judge sanity. Pyschiatrists and pyschotherapists have a difficult enough time doing it even when "mental health" is a very difficult thing to guage, if it is possible at all.

The only point of interest for me is that the real mental health patients could detect the fake ones. Read Veronika decides to die by Paulo Coehlo. It's a powerful novel about the nature of mental health.

-------
Massive, epic adventure, multi-coloured, multi-layered.
Sort of two/three dimensional Wizard of Oz for the future.

---

The only point of interest for me is that the real mental health patients could detect the fake ones. Read Veronika decides to die by Paulo Coehlo. It's a powerful novel about the nature of mental health.

---

Huh. I read The Alchemist, which was pretty awesome. I'll have to check that one out.

-------
"Drop to your knees and direct your mouth to my crotch."
-Trent

Since they came in and claimed to be experiencing some symptoms of schizophrenia and then proceeded to never claim to have those symptoms again, this is was the correct move on the part of the doctor who gave that diagnosis.

The problem is not with psychology/psychiatry or any people in those fields, but rather with the nature of what they study. The disorders they have to identify and treat are high-level things that seem to come from multiple causes, most unknown, working in unison.

There is no handy dandy blood test for schizophrenia. We rely on things like the self-report of the patient to let the psychologist know that something is wrong inside their noggin. This can be done by saying, "Doctor, I'm hearing voices" or it could be as extreme as running down the street screaming because the angels won't stop singing hard rock songs about your beard.

If someone lies about their experiences specifically to bring about a diagnosis of mental disorder and they receive it, it is not something to be blamed on the health care professionals.

I mean, hell, if they're lying about it, might as well let them cool off in a padded room for a month.

-------
"My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"

Still, interesting idea. It really just brings to light how much we still have to find out about how to run mental institutions though. There's so little we really know about the human mind.

-------
I need a beer. Russell needs a good kicking. I know you can help with one of those, which one is it going to be? - Tom.
www.kitbowman.co.uk

---

it's not the job for mental health nurses to judge sanity. .

---

my thoughts exactly.

-------
The truth is what money can be made from a lie.