Psychological Issues free essay sample

Other more recent studies have been done within this area of research. Slater (2004) presented herself In nine different psychiatric facilities clamming that she was suffering from hallucinations. Her study will be used In comparison to the previous one. Procedure and Findings Rosenhans main study Involved eight pseudo-patients, none had a history of mental hilliness, (among them was a housewife, three psychologists, a psychology student, one psychiatrist, a painter and Rosenhan himself) who attempted to gain admission In 12 psychiatric facilities. The procedure began with the participants calling the hospitals for an appointment and complaining of auditory hallucinations. They said they could hear the words hollow, empty and thud, but that the voice was often unclear. They described their mental state precisely and all eight were admitted, seven being then diagnosed with schizophrenia and one with bipolar disorder. All not be added to their records. After being accepted, the pseudo-patients did not report any other symptoms. We will write a custom essay sample on Psychological Issues or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page They acted normally around both staff and the genuine atients and always accepted the medicine that was given to them but did not take it. While the hospital staff failed to identify sanity and the participants were hospitalized from 7 to 52 days (with an average of 19 days) prior to being considered sane and being discharged. While the staff failed to identify sanity, 3 out of the 8 participants noticed that 35 out of a total of 118 real patients, suspected in some way that the pseudo-patients were not insane. Pseudo-patients normal behaviours were overlooked or misinterpreted. Slater, in contradiction to Rosenhans pseudo-patients, had been previously diagnosed with depression. Slater presented herself in nine psychiatric rooms clamming she heard the word thud (replicating some of Rosenhams procedure). This specific symptom was partly chosen because it raises concerns about the meaning of life. She was later on diagnosed with psychotic depression from all the hospitals and prescribed medication. Evaluation of the Procedure In Rosenhams research he used a field study. One of the strengths of doing so is that t is possible to gather both qualitative and quantitative data, so plenty of conclusions can be drawn. The participation observation method allows the participants from the first study to experience the world coming from a patient perspective while maintaining their objectivity. Although a strength in both Rosenhans and Slaters experiment is that it was used a wild range of psychiatric hospitals, allowing the results to be generalized, they lack realism. The fact that the psychiatric system can be tricked does not necessarily mean that it doesnt work effectively on genuine patients. Both Doctors and psychiatrists are most likely to make a type two error (this meaning, they are more likely to consider someone healthy as sick) than a type one (this meaning, diagnosing a sick person as being healthy). The studies methodology can also be evaluated in terms of ethnic. They both deceived the hospital and no member of staff gave consent on being a part of the study and/or being observed. However, a strength of both studies reliability, is that it was conducted in various hospitals, the same symptom was reported in all of them and the same diagnosis was given (in Rosenhams experiment, in 10 out of 11 hospitals). This shows the consistency on the diagnoses. And the fact that none of the participants on Rosenhams study had a history of mental hilliness makes in more reliable. The same does not happen with Slaters experiment which could have been deceived considering that Slater had previously been diagnosed with depression, which could have leaded her into acting in a way that would affect the diagnosis. When Rosenhan conducted this study the psychiatric classification was the DSM-II.