The Rosenhan Study: On Being Sane in Insane Places

by David L. Rosenhan:

“If sanity and insanity exist, how shall we know them?

The question is neither capricious nor itself insane.  
However much we may be personally convinced that we can tell the normal
from the abnormal, the evidence is simply not compelling.  It is
commonplace, for example, to read about murder trials wherein eminent
psychiatrists for the defense are contradicted by equally eminent
psychiatrists for the prosecution on the matter of the defendant’s
sanity.  More generally, there are a great deal of conflicting data on
the reliability, utility, and meaning of such terms as “sanity,”
“insanity,” “mental illness,” and “schizophrenia” [1].  Finally, as
early as 1934, {Ruth} Benedict suggested that normality and abnormality
are not universal. [2]  What is viewed as normal in one culture may be
seen as quite aberrant in another.  Thus, notions of normality and
abnormality may not be quite as accurate as people believe they are.” …cont’d