The Rosenhan experiment, which cast doubt on the competence of modern psychiatry

It is believed that modern medicine has reached significant heights and an experienced doctor can easily recognize a malingerer. Perhaps this is true in some branches of medical science, but not in psychiatry. In 1973, US psychologist David Rosenhan conducted a bold experiment that called into question the competence of psychiatrists. The purity of the experiment cannot be questioned - Rosenkhan repeated the experiment twice and got the same result both times.

Rosenhan conducted his experiment in secret. He recruited a group of 8 volunteers, which included himself. Participants presented to psychiatric clinics in different states with the same complaints of auditory hallucinations. Of course, all these people were absolutely healthy. But the doctors accepted the “patients” and began to treat them.

Participants in the experiment who were declared mentally ill and hospitalized immediately stopped pretending. They behaved like completely healthy people and assured the doctors that everything was fine with them. But the doctors did not listen to them and insisted on continuing to take the medications.

But the most surprising thing was something else. The entire medical staff, as one, did not recognize the malingerers. But other patients, real mental patients, immediately saw through the deceivers. They accused the malingerers of pretending and even complained about them to medical staff. In the end, the fake patients did leave the hospitable walls of the hospitals.

The experiment confirmed the fears of Rosenhan, who suspected the doctors of low professionalism. But once was not enough for him. Soon the doctor recruited new volunteers and distributed them to 12 hospitals. This time the complaints were very different. And again everything worked out. The malingerers were hospitalized and given various diagnoses, from depressive psychosis to schizophrenia.

When the people from Rosenhan's team began to behave adequately again, no one believed them again. When they managed to escape from the tenacious clutches of psychiatrists, their medical records showed real diagnoses. David Rosenhan was completely convinced that he was right. He published the results of his research, causing a real storm in society.

Confidence in psychiatry instantly collapsed, and the reputation of many well-known clinics received a crushing blow. One of the hospitals even contacted Rosenhana with a request to repeat the experiment within its walls. The scientist did not refuse. He agreed with the management of the medical institution that one or more false patients would try to get into the hospital within three months.

The hospital doctors began to show maximum vigilance and suspect every new arrival of malingering. As a result, out of 193 patients, 41 were declared cheaters, and another 42 were under suspicion. Another scandal erupted after Rosenhan stated that he had not sent a single pseudo-patient to the clinic. That is, people with real mental problems were declared malingerers.

The Rosenhan experiment dealt the most serious blow to psychiatry in its entire history. After this, society started talking seriously about the fact that doctors cannot distinguish sick from healthy people and all their work is based on guesswork. Yes, psychiatry, in addition to this, also opens up wide scope for repression. Consider the non-existent diagnosis of “sluggish schizophrenia”, which was given to those who were not pleasing to the regime.