Q&A: Susannah Cahalan, "The Great Pretender"

Journalist Susannah Cahalan discusses her book "The Great Pretender," about a 1973 experiment, led by Stanford psychologist David Rosenhan, that was conducted to test the legitimacy of psychiatric hospitals in America. For the experiment, Prof. Rosenhan and seven other healthy individuals checked themselves into mental asylums claiming that they were experiencing hallucinations. Once inside, they acted normally and told doctors that the hallucinations had subsided, but they weren't allowed to leave until they admitted to having a mental illness and agreeing to take antipsychotic drugs to treat their conditions. Susannah Cahalan talks about the experiment and the impact that the resulting study – "On Being Sane in Insane Places" – had on the psychiatric profession. This program originally aired in November of 2019. Make your donation at: c-span.org/donate Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices