Rosenhan Flashcards
What was Rosenhan’s aim?
To see if psychiatrists could tell if someone was mentally ill or not
What were the two things Rosenhan aimed to investigate on why people were diagnosed as being mentally ill?
Behaviour or Environment
How can Rosenhansstudy be placed in a social and historical context?
The anti - psychiatry group suggested it was better to treat schizophrenics in the community. They believed medical model wasn’t any better than demonology and that labelling someone is a way of excluding them. Rosenhan for himself wanted to observe from the inside. He believed the diagnosis of mental illness was useless at best and downright harmful
How can Rosenhans study be placed in an academic context?
Goffman - worked in a mental institute to carry out a pp observation of what its like to be institutionalised. He found that when the patients were labelled insane their behaviour reflected the label. The patients went through mortification as they were depersonalised and stripped of their identities.
How else can Rosenhans study be placed in an academic context?
Pygmalion - reinforced Rosenhans ideas. New teachers of a special group of pupils with a range of IQ’s were told they had unusual potential and that they would bloom. These teachers expectations became a self-fulfilling prophecy, even the weak students showed greater increase in IQ over 8 months than the control group
What was Rosenhans research method?
Participant observation in a natural environment
How many pps were there?
8 pseudopatients - 5 males and 3 females all sane including Rosenhan
How many hospitals were used to get the staff and patients from?
12
What did the pseudopatients have to say to try and get them into a mental hospital?
That they were hearing voices
What were the 3 words pseudopatients were hearing?
Empty
Hollow
Thud
What were the 2 things the pseudopatients lied about?
Their names
The voices
What did the pseudopatients make whilst in the hospital
Notes - in secret at first, but then openly as staff didn’t care
What were the pseudopatients told?
They had to get out themselves
What would the pseudopatients ask whilst in the hospital?
When they are likely to be discharged
In a follow up study Rosenhan told a hospital some pseudopatients were joining them in how many months?
3
Over the next 3 months what did the hospital have to do when patients were admitted?
Rate on a scale of 1-10 how confident they thought that the patients were genuine
How did Rosenhan address some ethical issues?
He kept all pps and hospitals confidential
How many pseudopatients were admitted?
All 8
How many were admitted with Schizophrenia?
7
How many were detected as being fake?
None
What were all the pseudopatients discharged with?
Schizophrenia in remission
How many days were the pseudopatients kept in for?
7 to 52
On average how many minutes a day did each pseudopatient have with a psychiatrist?
6.8
What did the real patients say to the pseudopatients?
You’re not crazy, you’re a journalist
How many tablets were given to the pseudopatients in total?
2,100
How many of the 2,100 tablets were swallowed?
2
How was the pseudopatients normal behaviour viewed by the staff?
In the light of “insane place”
On average what % of time did the staff take out of the glass office?
11%
What was the mean time per shift each nurse came out?
10-11
What did staff do when they were asked when the patients could go home?
They ignored them - 88% looked away
What did a female nurse do infront of ward of male patients?
Unbutton her blouse to adjust her underwear - not being seductive, they were invisible to her
In the follow up study how many pseudopatients did Rosenhan send?
None
How many patients admitted to the hospital in the follow up study were thought to be pseudopatients?
41/193
What did Rosenhan conclude about psychiatrists?
They cannot reliably tell who is sane and who isn’t
What did Rosenhan conclude about the behaviour of people in a psychiatric hospital?
That it is assumed to reflect insanity
What are people when they are labelled?
Depersonalised
What is a diagnosis of Schizophrenia?
A self-fulfilling prophecy
What type are doctors biased towards?
2 - better to call a sane person ill than an ill person sane(1)
What was a quote Rosenhan said?
The mentally ill are societies leppers
Was reliability a strength for Rosenhan?
Yes - variables were kept constant, all behaved in the same way in each hospital. However the 9th pp didn’t tell the truth so was excluded
Was validity a strength for Rosenhan?
No - all 8 pps were not really insane, didn’t paint a true picture
Was sampling a weakness for Rosenhan?
Yes - 8 pps is a small number, however both genders were used
What data was collected form Rosenhans study?
Both - qual - detailed view of being labelled & quan - enables comparisons e.g. number of days
What were the problems with this study in terms of ethics?
Deception - staff thought 8 pps were genuine
Didn’t give informed consent
Genuine patients could’ve been turned away - not protected from harm
Whose research supports Rosenhan and how?
Goffman - found once labelled behaviour reflects that label, patients were depersonalised. This supports because both studies emphasises the effect mental hospitals have. However could Rosenhans be better as he himself was a pps, whereas Goffman posed as a member of staff
What study also supports Rosenhan and how?
Pygmalion - self fulfilling prophecies as even weak students in a special group showed greater increase in IQ
Whose study contradicts Rosenhans and how?
Slater - repeated Rosenhans study, she went to a hospital saying she’d heard thud and hadn’t showered for 5 days, she wasn’t admitted, but was given anti-psychotic drugs. However could Rosenhans study be stronger as he used 8 pps
Who else’s research contradicts Rosenhans and how?
Spitzer - found schizophrenia in remission is rarely given in hospitals, this rejects because this discharge must’ve been because of the pps behaviour
