Sane or insane?

The following video is an excerpt from a BBC documentary series called 'The Trap,' created by BBC investigative journalist, Adam Curtis. The documentary explores the concept of freedom in our society, and this particular clip discusses a psychological experiment conducted by psychologist David Rosenhan back in the 1970s. I found it astounding - and quite disturbing. Before watching the clip, read these notes, which will help you to understand the context of the experiment explained in the video._________________________________________________________________________________ Notes: The year was 1973. The US government was not only losing the war in Vietnam, but was also losing popular support at home. Protests and riots broke out regularly in major cities and on college campuses. Interestingly, during this period, there was also an increase in the number of people being detained and admitted as 'insane' in psychiatric hospitals. From this atmosphere of social upheaval emerged voices from within the fields of psychology and psychiatry who denounced the use of psychiatry as a form of political control of the masses. The most prominent of these was R. D. Laing, a Scottish psychiatrist who was living in the US (this is the man you see in the very beginning of the video). Another professional in the field, David Rosenhan, attended one of his talks and was inspired to do an experiment. This video is about the experiment.________________________________________________________________ _______________________________Questions 1. What kind of science is psychiatry, according to Laing? 2. What was the key question about psychiatry that inspired David Rosenhan? 3. Where did the eight participants in the experiment go to conduct the experiment? 4. What 'lie' did each of the participants tell the psychiatrist on duty in their corresponding hospital, and how did they behave otherwise during the interview? 5. How many of the participants were admitted into the psychiatric hospitals? What was their diagnosis and treatment? 6. How long was Rosenhan detained at the hospital and how did he get out? 7. What was the reaction of the psychiatric community when they discovered what Rosenhan had done? 8. What challenge did one of the hospitals make to Rosenhan in order to prove their legitimacy, and what were the results of this challenge? Discussion question: 9. The presenter Adam Curtis says the effect of the Rosenhan experiment was a disaster for the credibility of psychiatry. Do you think a similar experiment conducted today would have similar results? 10. Is there a clear boundary between the categories 'sane' and 'insane,' or do you think the they are arbitrary lables?___________________________________________________ For fun, you can watch this related scene from the film '12 Monkeys' starring Brad Pitt and Bruce Willis: http://youtu.be/EOA3aYRSy_k