TIL about the Rosenhan experiment, in which a Stanford psychologist and his associates faked hallucinations in order to be admitted to psychiatric hospitals. They then acted normally. All were forced to admit to having a mental illness and agree to take antipsychotic drugs in order to be released.

Been there, done that. No real intention of doing it, mine was from PTSD, too.

Got trapped in a run down, fly infested hospital for 6 days. The first 3 were in the emergency room where I got to watch a woman attack a bunch of people, get put in a straight jacket, and got injected with something.

3 days surrounded by violence, screaming, howling. Never saw any doctors. They tried to make me take random medications with no diagnosis or instructio s, which I refused.

Then I got put in the drug rehab section. It was mostly homeless heroin addicts there, plus a few old people who had shitty families. Watched one old woman's condition deteriorate after they kept feeding her the random coktail of medicine they tried to give me.

I told one of the nurses I had PTSD from getting kidnapped and tortured, so that night she played this bizarre kidnapping/torture movie in the common room.

People were kept there for weeks, sometimes with no explanation. I only got out because I threatened to sue them, and since I had a law degree, I knew all the right words to scare the head doctor.

I begged them to let me leave because I had gone in job interviews and was waiting to hear back. The minute I got home I had a job offer waiting for me, and I accepted.

What a fucking nightmare that was. I'm keeping my problems to myself now, and I'm sure as hell never trusting doctors or hospitals again.

/r/todayilearned Thread Parent Link - en.wikipedia.org