Gaps In Psychiatry

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No one can disagree with the fact that there are gaps in psychiatry, however, how one looks at it is where things might differ from study to study as well as how ethical Rosenhan was in his study. We studied how Rosenhan went about his study sending a group of his friends, to be admitted to a psych ward, having previously had no signs of mental illness and held what most would consider prestigious jobs. The second piece we will be looking at is called Mike’s Musings, in this piece we will look at the view of Mike Smith, a former director of mental health nursing and a freelance consultant, who “believes he has the Holy Grail of Psychiatry within his grasp: the answer to what constitutes sanity.”
Smith’s theory to help insanity is summed up
…show more content…
Much like Rosenhan , Smith identifies some gaps and some flaws in our care for mental health, but what are we going to do to change it. . He also talks about a popular belief that many of us have heard. Often sane people believe they are insane, while insane and unstable individuals insist that they are sane. Finally he sums up his article by talking about being stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to getting help. Is the help we are offering individuals actually helping them, or are we just locking them up, Possibly causing more harm by making someone who is already emotionally unstable, even more emotionally unbalanced, by putting demands that may seem impossible in order for them to be released from the mental …show more content…
There have been many studies done on psychiatry, where they find gaps and seem to identify the root cause, yet if this is the case, why are we still not progressing with the actual diagnosis and how we treat mental illness. When I first read about Rosenhan’s experiment, I was so upset about the morals of his experiment and how he went about his study, knowing that there were individuals such as the patients and the doctors at the facilities who did not know about the study, I have to admit it clouded my view. I was most bothered by the fact that Rosenhan and a doctor from a prestigious hospital allowed their egos to get in the way, and the doctor challenged Rosenhan to send in pseudopatients, then stating he identified 41 of them, yet Rosenhan had not sent in any. To me the doctor was so bent on identifying the pseudopatients that I feel that with his bias he could have sent away patients that truly needed help. This chapter by far gave me the most emotional reaction, as far as morally being wrong. However, rereading this chapter along with Mike 's article, I am appalled at the lack of growth we have seen in the past decades, considering we have identified several gaps and opportunities. With all of our advances in medical technology and studies why is it that we have such a lack of medical treatment when it comes to mental illness. I was saddened when Mike spoke

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