17th century metal mask that was used to restrain individuals who were considered to be insane. I recently went down a rabbit hole of reading about the history of mental illnesses and learned about the Rosenhan experiment in which a Stanford professor and psychologist by the name of David Rosenhan and his associates pretended to hallucinate in order to get admitted to psychiatric hospitals. Once they were admitted, they proceeded to act normal. They even told the staff that they were feeling fine and were no longer experiencing any hallucinations. The hospitals, however, refused to release them and forced them all to admit that they were mentally ill. The team spent an average of 19 days in the hospital and all but one were diagnosed with schizophrenia. They were released on the condition that they take antipsychotic medication. Here’s Rosenhan’s own words, describing his experience locked up in the hospital: “I told friends, I told my family: ‘I can get out when I can get out. That’s all. I’ll be there for a couple of days and I’ll get out.’ Nobody knew I’d be there for two months ... The only way out was to point out that they’re (the psychiatrists) correct. They had said I was insane, ‘I am insane; but I am getting better.’ That was an affirmation of their view of me.” However, the story does not end there... Part two of the study involved the hospital firing back at Rosenhan, challenging him to send more pseudopatients. The hospital was confident that they would be able to spot the fakes this time. Rosenhan sent a total of 193 patients and the hospital identified 41 of them as being pseudopatients. So did the hospital get it right this time? Not even close. In fact, Rosenhan did not send any pseudopatients. Rosenhan published his study in 1973 and titled it “On being sane in insane places”. His conclusion was that psychiatrists had no idea what they were doing. He condemned the dehumanizing conditions in hospitals and recommended that there be a deeper focus on specific behaviors rather than resorting to psychiatric labels.