TIL of the Thud experiment where participants faked hallucinations to be admitted to a psychiatric hospital but then acted normal. They were forced to take antipsychotic drugs to be released.

Totally disagree. You need a way to admit someone against their will, because psychiatric patients in acute crises can pose a serious threat to both themselves and other people. The subjectivity issue you’re talking about is true for people with mild to moderate illness. But for people with severe mental health issues it is very obvious they are sick. If you’ve ever been inside an inpatient unit you will have seen that. This is not just a question of people ‘not matching social norms’, these people are seriously, seriously unwell.

Here in the UK, to section someone for assessment you need the separate approval of 2 doctors plus an approved mental health practitioner, and that order expires after 1 month when they need to be reassessed. This reduces the risk of people being admitted when it is not needed.

Plenty of people experience auditory hallucinations and that does not mean they have a mental illness.

You say this as though that isn’t common knowledge. Of course there are plenty of non-psychotic causes of hallucinations, this experiment was almost 50 years ago and does not reflect current practice at all.

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