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The Great Pretender: The Undercover Mission That Changed Our Understanding of Madness

Product ID : 41823389


Galleon Product ID 41823389
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About The Great Pretender: The Undercover Mission That

Product Description Shortlisted for the 2020 Royal Society Insight Investment Science Book PrizeNamed a Best Book of 2020 by The Guardian * The Telegraph * The Times"One of America's most courageous young journalists" and the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling memoir Brain on Fire investigates the shocking mystery behind the dramatic experiment that revolutionized modern medicine (NPR). Doctors have struggled for centuries to define insanity--how do you diagnose it, how do you treat it, how do you even know what it is? In search of an answer, in the 1970s a Stanford psychologist named David Rosenhan and seven other people--sane, healthy, well-adjusted members of society--went undercover into asylums around America to test the legitimacy of psychiatry's labels. Forced to remain inside until they'd "proven" themselves sane, all eight emerged with alarming diagnoses and even more troubling stories of their treatment. Rosenhan's watershed study broke open the field of psychiatry, closing down institutions and changing mental health diagnosis forever. But, as Cahalan's explosive new research shows in this real-life detective story, very little in this saga is exactly as it seems. What really happened behind those closed asylum doors? Amazon.com Review Susannah Cahalan’s first book Brain on Fire documented her experience with a treatable autoimmune disease that masqueraded as mental illness. The disease did so by causing inflammation on her brain, and after being misdiagnosed with schizophrenia, she was given antipsychotic drugs and nearly transferred to the psych ward. Luckily, an insightful doctor saved her from being committed to a very different life than the one she is living now. Diseases like that are called the great pretenders, because their symptoms mimic the behaviors of psychiatric illnesses. Cahalan’s personal experience led her deeper into the study of mental health, where she learned of a groundbreaking 1973 study called “On Being Sane in Insane Places.” In that study, a Stanford psychologist named David Rosenhan, along with seven other sane people, volunteered to get themselves committed into asylums by repeating the words “thud, empty, hollow.” That was pretty much all it took. Eventually, they had to find their way out. The Great Pretender is a panoramic look at the mental health industry, but at its center is a mystery. As Cahalan, who is a journalist, sets out to learn more about Rosenhan’s study, her work uncovers as many questions as it does answers. The result is a book that broadens our understanding of a system that many feel is broken, at the same time that it deepens our relationship to the people who are affected by that system (those who are admitted and those who are administering). It may also serve as a reminder that it’s not always good for us to meet our heroes. The more we read about Rosenhan, the more we begin to wonder if he wasn't a different kind of pretender than people thought him to be.--Chris Schluep, Amazon Book Review Review Named One of the Top 100 Must-Read Books of 2019 by TIME Magazine Named a Best Book of the Month by the New York Times, Washington Post, O Magazine, San Francisco Chronicle, Houston Chronicle, Business Insider, Refinery29, Bustle, CrimeReads, Popsugar, and PureWow Named a Best Book of the Fall by Kirkus, Bookish, and LitHub "This is a well-crafted, gripping narrative that succeeds on many levels. Cahalan, who gained the trust of Rosenhan's family, is meticulous and sensitive in her research; compelling and insightful in her writing."― The Financial Times "[A]n impressive feat of investigative journalism--tenaciously conduct, appealingly written... as compelling as a detective novel."― The Economist "A sharp investigation into how human self-interest, weaknesses, and egos can shape the way that science proceeds."― Undark "A fascinating, potent, and crucial read."― Buzzfeed " A stranger-than-fiction thrill ride exposing the loose scre