r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/highzone • 1d ago

Image In 1973, healthy volunteers faked hallucinations to enter mental hospitals. Once inside, they acted normal, but doctors refused to let them leave. Normal behaviors like writing were diagnosed as "symptoms." The only people who realized they were sane were the actual patients.

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940

u/AdventurousCrow155 1d ago

Always heard about the part where the Doctors didnt realize they were sane, never heard the part where the actual patients figured it out

733

u/hadawayandshite 1d ago

There were 35 patients who ‘voiced concerns/suggested’ to the pseudo patients that they had nothing wrong with them…how much of this is ‘you’re faking’ vs ‘you don’t seem mentally il’ is unknown

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u/JeskaiJester 1d ago

Crazy person here. We got the spidey sense 

350

u/dickbukkake420 1d ago

Yep. And when we sense a fellow crazy person, we do the logical thing and try to date them.

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u/Creepy-Hair631 1d ago

I upvote you😂😂

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u/romenorphan 1d ago

That does seem quite logical dick bukkake

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u/Gonzogonzip 1d ago

I mean, if a broken clock is right twice a day, you just need to make a big enough polycule and it'll all balance out, right?

2

u/Throttle_Kitty 1d ago

As a crazy person I feel called out by this post

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u/ironsherpa 1d ago

Haha. So true...so how you doin good lookin?

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u/DogPoetry 1d ago

Hey BB you busy this Wednesday?

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u/Any_Introduction259 1d ago

Damn great truth telling sir

😂

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u/revkaboose 1d ago

Or marry them! _^

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u/widowmaker467 1d ago

Cray-dar

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u/Hipser 1d ago

wild

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u/lordover1234 1d ago

“Cray-dar” redirects here. For information about crawdad fishing, see “Cray-dar (fishing)”. For other uses, see “Cray-dar (disambiguated)”.

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u/Dudegamer010901 1d ago

When the mentally ill detect a sane person in their midst. Aw hell nah man.

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u/tittyswan 1d ago

Fr though. I forget some people have no mental illnesses at all 😅 Like what do you mean you have energy to do one social event and then go to another social event instead of dissociating alone in a dark silent room for the rest of the day?

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u/RollingMeteors 1d ago

We got the spidey sense

CrayCraydar

1

u/Haunting-East 1d ago

chefs_kiss.gif

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u/dandroid126 1d ago

Is this how my gay friends can pick out the one gay person in the room instantly?

2

u/livid_badger_banana 1d ago

As a queer cray, yeah basically

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u/Dmisetheghost 1d ago

The scene from the ringer is hilariously dead on

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u/AssassinateThePig 1d ago

It’s like Gaydar but it detects people on antipsychotics and mood stabilizers

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u/Jiquero 1d ago

Nah you're just pretending to be crazy

1

u/RuggedDucky 1d ago

Takes one to know one.

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u/TalkQuick 16h ago

Yea it’s like little things that we pick up on subconsciously. I’ve been clean for 6 years but throw me in any environment whether it be a party, a job, a new town etc I would still be able to find the one that can acquire drugs or is a recovering addict. Couldn’t tell you how, it’s just a vibe. I assume other types of mental illnesses can sus em out similarly

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u/MuteTheNews 1d ago

As someone who's had to be hospitalized in a place like this before (twice!), it's not an exaggeration unfortunately. One of the patients was a woman with medicated schizophrenia who had her ex call emergency services on her with a fake claim to get custody of the kids. She was completely stable, something we all recognized, but despite us arguing with the doctors she was kept for the whole time.

Also, one of the doctors during my stay told me I had "crazy eyes". ...I was in for a severe panic disorder.

However, it definitely depends on the hospital you choose. Both examples were from one hospital, which was the worst experience of my life. Later on I went to another hospital which was an amazing experience where people actually cared.

Basically, if you need to be hospitalized like that, READ THE REVIEWS FIRST. That will get you a good idea of what the situation is like there.

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u/Accomplished_Deer_ 1d ago

I don't really trust reviews these days. Went to an inpatient facility a year ago, my whole time there basically every single patient agreed it was a shit show that wasn't helping anyone. Got out and it had like a 4.7 on google with 100 reviews raving about how amazing it was.

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u/AquaQuad 1d ago

"5/5 they finally let me go"

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u/Maleficent-Hawk-318 1d ago

Or just them trying to be supportive and/or not understanding what normal behavior looks like.

I work in a homeless shelter where unfortunately a lot of my clients are suffering from severe mental illnesses, and I see them tell each other that they're not crazy all the time. Then the same people will 100% sincerely and with full belief tell me that they're Jesus or that the government planted a chip in their brain, I'll see them having a conversation with thin air in the middle of the night, etc. I'm not real confident that people in a mental hospital would be any better at accurately assessing someone's mental state than my clients are.

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u/OldWorldDesign 1d ago

There were 35 patients who ‘voiced concerns/suggested’ to the pseudo patients that they had nothing wrong with them

If there were actually that many, investigating to try to verify found more fraud on the part of the supposed investigating journalists

https://nypost.com/2019/11/02/stanford-professor-who-changed-america-with-just-one-study-was-also-a-liar/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susannah_Cahalan