Analysis Of On Being Sane In Insane Places

On Being Sane in Insane Places: Indefinite Stigmatization

"Mental illness is nothing to be ashamed of, but stigma and bias shame us all" (Bill Clinton). This quote can be attributed to David Rosenhan 's controversial experiment "On Being Sane in Insane Places." The purpose of his experiment was to expose the stigmas that are frequently associated with mental illness. If people were more accepting, afflicted individuals would seek professional help without fearing stigmatization in contemporary society. As Rosenhan suggested, people respond negatively to individuals suffering from mental illness, which manifests itself into hostility and avoidance towards afflicted individuals. He later recruited eight "sane" individuals who gained entry different

Insanity is a state of functioning that negatively impacts a person 's social, behavioural and mental wellbeing. Had they not been labelled, their behaviour would not have been misinterpreted. Although these pseudopatients fabricated their names and occupations to avoid special treatment, their family records were presented to hospital staff without additional revisions. Unsurprisingly, the pseudopatient 's track record was misconstrued when his diagnosis was put into

Hospital staff paid little attention to patients beyond drug administration, which most patients were able to successfully dispose of in their presence. When pseudopatients initiated conversations with doctors, they were regarded with quick nods but their questions remained unanswered. When one pseudopatient politely asked about his potential discharge, the doctor merely greeted him by name, not even bother with eye contact. Likewise, when patients would display angry outbursts, hospital staff arriving on the scene would immediately misinterpret the situation as purely the patient 's fault. Oftentimes the patient loses credibility because of his or her title of