Article Review : ' On Being Sane ' Insane Places ' Essay examples

I will be analyzing D.L. Rosenhan’s research article titled, “On Being Sane in Insane Places.” The main question that the author asks is, “What is the basis to determine whether someone is insane or sane?” There has been much debate on how we figure out who normal vs. abnormal. It has been hard to distinguish the exact factors that would designate a person into either of these categories. The author wanted to find out if there was a universal way to standardize this process in a precise way for the future. He tested for this using the scientific method. The participants that he used were 8 pseudopatients. Pseudopatient can be defined as, “people who do not have, and have never suffered, symptoms of serious psychiatric disorders” (Rosenhan 251). These participants varied of age, occupation and gender. The settings the experiment took place in varied similarly to the participants. “The 12 hospitals in the sample were located in five different states on the East and West coasts” (251). The age of the establishments ranged from old to new, some being research oriented etc. Rosenhan had the participants call the hospital to complain about hearing voices. The participants then stated their symptoms at these appointments. Once they were admitted they, “immediately ceased stimulating any symptoms of abnormality” (251). During this time participants took notes and gathered information on what they experienced. The experiment lasted until they were discharged. In terms of results,…