On Being Insane in Sane Places essays

On Being Insane in Sane Places essays Just how insane or sane is sanity? Is it possible to tell a sane person from someone that is insane? How is it that one psychiatrist can testify that a person is insane, while another equally qualified one argues that they are sane? Obviously, notions of normality are not as accurate as the general populous would believe. In fact, psychological categorization of mental illnesses has been said to be useless at best and harmful at its worst. One experiment set out to find out just how accurate these categorizations are. The experiment involved sending eight pseudopatients into twelve various hospitals. Out of the eight patients, one was in his twenties, while the other seven were older and considered to be established. Also, five were men and three were women. Each gained admission on the claim that they had been hearing voices. Except their fake names and occupations used at admission, the significant occurrences that they each described were actual life experiences that the y had been through. Once admitted to the various psychiatric facilities, the pseudopatients ceased any abnormal behaviors. The pseudopatients spent their time observing both the staff and other patients and even took notes on their observations. Despite the fact that the counterfeit patients acted normally and even took notes publicly, none of the them were discovered by the hospital staff. However, many of the other patients at the institutions continually saw through the fake patients and stated that they must be journalists checking up on the hospital and the staff. Anyway, not to restate everything in the article, the labels that are used for the sane and the insane are not always accurate, and that some of those housed in such institutions are quite possible not insane at all. After reading this article, I find myself somewhat enlightened. Even though I worked in a prison that housed mental patients, I too never ...