Psychiatric Diagnosis--The Rosenhan Experiment

[leela]

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosenhan_experiment

This is new to me, though from the 1970s. Excellent challenge to the unscientific/unrealistic nature of psychiatric diagnosis. The last line of the article make me laugh out loud; either someone is taking the piss, or a desperate psychiatrist did some editing!

 

[alex3619]

I think there were quite a few experiments like this, actually going back to the 19th century! It is well known that psychiatrists typically cannot tell the difference between normal people and people with serious psychological problems. They rely on the setting to give them context - if you are in their office, and you might have psychiatric problem, often they will find one, whether its there or not.

Its more important I think that they focus on helping patients, and do not be consumed by diagnosis and diagnostic presumptions. Many ME patients might benefit from psychological counseling, but there is no good evidence that we benefit from psychogenic CBT or GET treatment, and considerable evidence of harm.