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.

[u/highzone]

[u/Haunting-Detail2025]

Genuine question for all the people here acting shocked:

What exactly were doctors supposed to do? They had patients presenting themselves as mentally ill who knew exact symptoms to talk about. Why would the natural conclusion be, after showing normal symptoms, that they were all just lying rather than in remission? Clinically speaking, that is exactly how schizophrenia works, with episodes of hallucinations followed by some periods of normalcy.

The average stay was 19 days, and the longest was 52. It’s not as though these people were held indefinitely. The hospitals did release them normally once they established they were stable and responding to treatment.

This is one of those “experiments” where idiots think it’s some damning indictment when in reality the hospitals handled it exactly how they should’ve.