How Psychiatry Has Changed Since The 1970 ' S

The experiment took place in room 337, the experimental psychology lab room in the science building of Queens College, CUNY.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” has received wide praise for its accurate depiction of madness and the symptoms attributed to mental breakdowns (Shumaker 1985).   While these symptoms may seem obvious from today’s psychological perspective, Gilman was writing at the close of the 19th century when the discipline of psychology was still emerging out of a rudimentary psychiatric approach to treating the mentally ill. Though doctors have attempted to write about the treatment of insanity since ancient Greece, the history of madness has most often been characterized by a series of popular images, images that may have stunted the

Psychiatry is a type of science that involves mental illnesses and diagnosing the patient's’ mental, and sometimes physical, health. Psychiatrists are doctors that are trained to diagnose mental illnesses, and spot mental, emotional and behavioral symptoms. They work with their patients, listening to their stories, and performing tests in order to find out what, if any, mental illnesses or cognitive disorders. The median annual salary for a psychiatrist is around $200,000.

In the video Bellevue: Inside Out there were many patients that had similar diagnoses but very different symptoms. They all responded differently to their medications and acted differently. The most common diagnosis was Bipolar disorder and Schizophrenia. Many of the patients were a danger to themselves and others. The video was created to help the knowledge of Abnormal Psychology and help students understand what goes on in a psychiatric ward. Many people do believe that it was wrong for the APA to make a video about these people when they weren’t in their right minds from the heavy use of medication. The patients may not have been in the right mind but the video still

After some research the experimenter obtained opinions about the outcome of the experiment from psychiatrists, college sophomores,

In 1973, psychologist David Rosenhan published “On Being Sane in Insane Places” which documents the results of studies he and his confederates conducted at 12 different psychiatric hospitals across the United States. The studies were an examination into the reliability of psychiatric diagnosis methods. Rosenhan’s research focused on testing the hypothesis of whether or not psychiatrists and medical staff can distinguish the sane from the insane and if the characteristics that lead to diagnoses relate more to the patient or to the environment and context in which they’re being assessed. (Rosenhan, 1973) The study was divided into two main parts. Participant observations and comparative information studies were noted as well as they gave valuable insight into the treatment of psychiatric patients, conditions in psychiatric hospitals, and the effect that diagnostic labels had on how patients were perceived by staff. Ultimately, the study discovered that psychiatrists could not reliably distinguish the sane from the insane and insight was gained into how diagnostic labels and environmental context play a strong role in the perception of behavior.

* The imprecision of the diagnosis of schizophrenia, for example, is illustrated by a study done by thirteen psychology researchers where they all presented themselves at the doors of various mental hospitals telling them they heard voices, with the outcome of each being discharged with a diagnosis of schizophrenic on remission.

Since the early 1990s, the progress of mental illness treatment has increased quickly. Many patients with mental illness have been able to leave hospitals and live normal lives because of advancement in treatment. The treatment of mental illness has changed in many ways. Some of these ways are medical technology, medication, and the housing treatment. These changes in mental illness healing have led to a great success.

The dangerous and suicidal patients were tied together with ropes to help isolate them from the rest (ch. 14). The nurses were very obnoxious and abusive. For example, they would tell the patients to shut up and that they would beat them if they talked (Bly, ch. 12). Throughout Bly’s experience she talked with other patients, which convinced her that some were as sane as she was. Ultimately, society could not determine who was actually insane or sane due to their lack of knowledge on mental illnesses.

The test subjects failed to think critically and even act morally in the face of authority. The teachers often referred to the experimenter to continue when they knew the learner was in pain. Even after the learner had gone silent the test subjects continued. The test subject didn’t know if they were alive in the room or not and the majority continued regardlessly.

Ethically there was concern, that the level of deception involved, could have caused detriment to future patients, since the embarrassment from the initial study had a direct affect on the judgements of genuine patients. The reliability of these results may be questioned, as the participant numbers were relatively small; however they were valid as the results showed a strong correlation from each of the hospitals investigated. Rosenhan’s studies have been a catalyst towards further research into schizophrenia, especially since they were ecologically valid.

When doing research I found that Benjamin Rush was the father of the American Psychiatry from 1745 to 1813. Rush claimed that “the cause of madness is seated primarily in the blood vessels of the brain” and that mental derangement occurs because the brain is “overcharged” with blood. Also, I researched that Rush had a “Negritude”. In 1797, Rush declared that blacks suffered from a disease called negritude. This he claimed derived from leprosy and caused the skin to be dark and that segregation would therefore prevent infection. He stated that the skin turning white, at which point the person would be considered sane, signified the only cure.

In the 20th century, we focus on how much mental illness causes a problem, yet we don’t ever try to help them or even try to understand what they are going through. One thing that you have to always keep in mind is that they are human, just like you. They just want to be accepted without being judged. However, people who think that mental illness is just a big joke make them feel that they have something wrong with them, that they aren't good enough to be here.

Through the course of time, mental illnesses have always been in existence due to varying factors and causes. However, as time has passed, the perceptions and available treatments for mental illnesses have also changed as new technology was developed. By looking at the treatments and perceptions of mental illnesses in the early 20th century, we can learn how to properly treat and diagnose not only mental disorders but also other conditions as well as show us the importance of review boards and controlled clinical trials.

During their initial psychiatric assessment, they claimed to be hearing voices of the same sex as the patient which were often unclear, but which seemed to pronounce the words "empty", "hollow", "thud" and nothing else. These words were chosen as they vaguely suggest some sort of existential crisis and for the lack of any published literature referencing them as psychoticsymptoms. No other psychiatric symptoms were claimed. If admitted, the pseudopatients were instructed to "act normally", reporting that they felt fine and no longer heard voices. Hospital records obtained after the experiment indicate that all pseudopatients were characterized as friendly and cooperative by staff.