Rosenhan's experiment (1973) arranged for eight "pseudopatients", including Dr. Rosenhan, with no history of psychiatric illness, to attempt to gain admission into a mental hospital by feigning and pretending to be mentally ill. The pseudopatients consisted of a psychology graduate student, three psychologists, a pediatrician, a psychiatrist, a painter and a housewife. All eight pseudopatients gained admission to twelve mental hospitals in five states. (Rosenhan, 1973, p. 179) After admission, they acted normally and told the staff they were fine and no longer experienced any additional illness. All were forced to admit to having a mental illness and agreed to take antipsychotic drugs as a condition of their release. The average time that the patients spent in the hospital was nineteen days. All but one were diagnosed with schizophrenia "in remission" before their release. (Rosenhan, 1973, p.180)
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The main building of St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Washington D.C., now abandoned and boarded up, was one of the sites of the Rosenhan Study. |