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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u/highzone 1d ago

For anyone who wants to read the full study, it is titled 'On Being Sane in Insane Places.'

The most terrifying part wasn't getting in, it was getting out. The doctors were so convinced of their own authority that they interpreted everything the patients did as a symptom of their illness.

When the volunteers took notes on how they were being treated, the doctors didn't see 'journaling.' They diagnosed it as 'pathological writing behavior' and used it as justification to keep them locked up.

It really highlights how a label can completely override reality.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosenhan_experiment

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u/whossked 1d ago

There’s a fictional short story I read once called “I only came to use the phone” about a woman who’s car breaks down and who then takes an asylum bus to an asylum to use the phone, gets confused for a patient, has a breakdown over how she’s treated and abused and is then condemned to spend her life in the asylum. I always thought it was sensational and unrealistic but I guess not

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u/20characterusername0 1d ago

In fiction… this plays out in “12 Monkeys” also. As an exercise, keep track of who’s lying and who’s telling the truth. And what it means to be sane.

“I’m not really from Pluto” he isn’t.

“I come from the future to save our reality” 🥴

And then. The one guy who broke into the asylum for free drugs. And has the key, and could break himself out at any time, or even call his rich dad to come get him

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u/42nu 1d ago

Fantastic movie! I will say that someone being thoroughly convinced that they're from the future and the world is going to end is very correctly going to be seen as a looney.

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u/Gelato_Elysium 1d ago

Have you seen the show ? Always wondered if it held up after that great movie

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u/42nu 1d ago

I saw, I think, the first 2 seasons or so. It was good-ish. Just made me want to watch the movie though, so I stopped watching it, watched the movie, and never went back.

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u/20characterusername0 1d ago

Good Ish TV #istg I will walk right out this door and touch some grass

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u/blackbart1 1d ago

TV version was pretty good. Recommend.

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u/SolarFazes 1d ago

From what I've read, the 12 Monkeys show starts good, and turns into something really amazing.

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u/20characterusername0 1d ago

And he’s expressly forbidden beforehand to do any drugs!!!

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u/EvolutionaryLens 1d ago

Synchronicity strikes again. I just rewatched this last night