Classic Study: Rosenhan Flashcards
What was the aim of Rosenhan’s study?
He wanted to prove that psychiatrists could not distinguish the sane from the insane
name 4 procedural points from Rosenhan’s study
- there were 8 pseudo-patients with occupations ranging from painter, housewife, psychology student.
- They all phoned up different hospitals new and old, private, well-staffed, understaffed, and public and claimed to hear sounds saying “empty, hollow, thud”.
- pseudonyms were used to protect patients.
- In total they approached 12 different hospitals across 5 different states.
- once admitted patients behaved normally by cooperating with staff and kept records of their observations
what were the findings of Rosenhan’s study?
- 7 were diagnosed with SZ and one with bipolar disorder. When they were released they were said to have schizophrenia in remission.
- length of stay ranged from 7 to 52 days and average number of days spent in the hospital was 19 days.
- 30% of real patients said they were suspicious of pseudo-patients e.g. they thought they were sane and were perhaps journalists undercover
what is the conclusion of Rosenhan’s study?
we cannot distinguish the sane from the insane.
what is a strength of Rosenhan’s study? hint: covert
use of covert observation - as staff were unaware that pseudo-patients were researchers, their behaviour would have been more natural e.g. rosenhan reports instances of physical abuse that was observed by the pseudo-patients but stopped when other staff appeared. This means data collected has high ecological validity, enhanced by the wealth of data collected in naturalistic observation.
what’s a competing argument for the use of covert observation?
on the other hand, it could be argued that the validity of the study is poor. The pseudo-patients may have only recorded negative interactions between staff and patients as they were all supporters of Rosenhan. Also, there was only one pseudo-patient per hospital and therefore there was no way of establishing whether the data each person collected was reliable.
What is a weakness of Rosenhan’s study? hint: demand characteristics
the willingness to admit a patient based on flimsy evidence may be because the psychiatrists wouldn’t suspect for a minute that someone might be pretending and therefore assumes that anyone seeking admission must have a good reason to do so.
What is a strength of Rosenhan’s study? hint: anti-psychiatry movement
Rosenhan’s study supported this because it demonstrates that the diagnosis of mental states is invalid. He also argued that labels once given were sticky and therefore, when patients were released it was with a diagnosis of ‘schizophrenia in remission’ - forever being labelled as “schizophrenic”. This study drew attention to the need for reformation in psychiatry, to avoid the mis-use of labels. He suggested that the system should be replaced by a more behavioural approach which avoids labels and their self-fulfilling consequences.
application to DSM that Rosenhan had…? (strength)
Study led to changes in DSM-III. The failure of psychiatrists to make accurate diagnosis let to call for change. Therefore, this paved the way for critical reforms to the diagnostic process - though this was not Rosenhan’s intention.
