Rosenhan Flashcards
What is the aim of Rosenhan’s study?
Rosenhan wanted to test the reliability of mental health diagnosis, to see if medical professionals could tell the sane from the insane in a clinical setting. He also wanted to investigate the effect of labeling on medical diagnosis.
In particular, Rosenhan investigated whether healthy pseudopatients would be given a diagnosis of mental illness and whether their imposture would be recognised by medical staff and other patients. Later, he investigated whether genuine patients would be identified as pseudopatients by suspicious staff.
Who were the ppts in Rosenhan’s study?
The participants were the staff and patients in 12 psychiatric hospitals (mental asylums) in the United States.
Where were the hospitals in Rosenhans study? And how many?
12 hospitals were in 5 different states, on the East and West coasts of the country.
How many pseudopatients were there?
8
3 female and 5 male
What was the procedure of Rosenhans study?
-Each of the 8 psuedo patients said they heard a voice (empty, hollow, thud)
- When they got admitted to hospital they said they no longer heard voices
-They acted normally
-They made notes and disposed of medication
What was the follow on study for Rosenhan?
Some hospitals said they would know if psuedopatients were in their hospital so Rosenhan agreed to send some more patients but none were actually sent. Staff had to rate every patient on a scale 1-10. 1 being strong confidence that the patients were fake.
What were the results of the initial study carried out by Rosenhan?
7 were diagnosed with SZ and 1 was diagnosed with 1 with bipolar .
They were there between 7-52 days so on average 19 days before being discharged
About 30% of patients on the ward voiced suspicion about the psuedo patients (thought they were journalists)
What did some of the pseudopatients observe in Rosenhan’s study?
- Staff abusing patients: “Come on you motherfuckers, out of bed” and one patient was beaten for saying they liked and attendant
-Patients refusing medication: The pseudopatients were copied by patients when getting rid of medication
-Depersonalisation and powerlessness: Not treated right and there were no doors on toilet cubicles. Staff did not var about privacy
How long did the staff spend outside in the ward in Rosenhan’s study?
11.3%
How often did the Doctors come onto the ward in Rosenhan’s study?
6.7 times
What were the results for the follow up study is Rosenhan’ study?
Out of the 193 patients
41 were rated as pseudopateients by at least one member of staff
23 were rated as pseudopatients by at least one psychiatrist
19 were rated as pseudopatients by a psychiatrisa and a staff member
What is the conclusions from Rosenhan’s study?
We cannot distinguish the sane from the insane
What does Rosenhan conclude about labels?
Once labels are attached they are very hard ot change or move
What was a positive and negative about generaliability of Rosenhan’s study?
Rosenhan made a point of using a range of psychiatric hospitals - private and state-run, old and new, well-funded and under-funded - from across the United States. Nevertheless, 12 is a small sample for a country as big as the USA and a few “bad apples” could have skewed the results of Rosenhan’s observations
What was a positive and negative about reliability of Rosenhan’s study?
osenhan trained his pseudopatients beforehand, but they didn’t all follow the same standardised procedures.
Data from a 9th pseudopatient was not included in Rosenhan’s report because, among other things, he did not follow procedures. The graduate student asked his wife to bring in his college homework to do, revealing he was a psychologist. Another pseudopatient revealed that he was going to become a psychologist and one of his visitors was a college Psychology professor One pseudopatient struck up a romantic relationship with a nurse.
Rosenhan explains this as the pseudopatients resisting the effects of depersonalisation and powerlessness. However, it also suggests they failed to follow instructions and act consistently.
