On being sane in insane places (Rosenhan, 1973)

A fascinating and shocking chapter of psychiatric history.8 pseudopatients with no history of psychiatric problems managed to get admitted to different US psychiatric hospitals, after reporting brief auditory hallucinations. The study was a very influential criticism of psychiatric diagnosis at the time.

Do have a read of the original Rosenhan article - it is long but give it a go.

Also worth watching (or reading), in a similar vein, is 'One flew over the Cuckoo's nest'.

Today's powerpoint is here - you need to distinguish between problems of reliability and validity of diagnosis.