Rosenhan was, of course, best known for his 1973 paper “On Being Sane in Insane Places.”
What is little known to psychologists (I have often wondered if Rosenhan knew) is that WAY back in 1887 a reporter for Joseph Pulitzer's New York World newspaper named Nellie Bly arranged (by acting "crazy" at her boarding house) to get herself transported to the Women's Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell's Island. Although the police concluded that she had been drugged, the physicians declared her to be "positively demented" and locked up with the other... uh... inmates. She stayed for 10 days, taking notes on the terrible conditions that existed within. On the basis of these she wrote an exposé for The World which was transformed into an illustrated the book, Ten Days in a Madhouse. The book is here: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/bly/madhouse/madhouse.html There is a mental Floss article about her "adventure" here: http://mentalfloss.com/article/29734/ten-days-madhouse-woman-who-got-herself-committed And, of course, there is a Wikipedia page about her: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nellie_Bly The outcry caused by her articles caused the city of New York to pour a million (1887) dollars more into caring for the insane. It is important to note that this all happened three years BEFORE Jacob Riis did his famous photographic exposé of New York's slums called How the Other Half Lives. (the flash bulb was invented between the two events). Bly went on to do a series of articles on conditions at the Pullman Train Factory in Chicago, where one of the most violent strikes of the "Gilded Age" took place in 1894. Historically yours, Chris --- Christopher D. Green Department of Psychology York University Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 Canada chri...@yorku.ca http://www.yorku.ca/christo/ ========================= On 2013-09-17, at 10:51 AM, Jim Matiya wrote: > > > > > > > I just received the September 2013 copy of American Psychologist. In it, is > the obituary of David Rosenhan. > The Stanford Law School posted a story as well, click here: > http://tinyurl.com/mgo6j7q > > > Jim > > Jim Matiya > Psychology Department > FLorida Gulf Coast University > Ft. NMers, FL > > > Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a > listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of > which have the potential to turn a life around...Leo Buscaglia > > --- > You are currently subscribed to tips as: chri...@yorku.ca. > To unsubscribe click here: > http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=430248.781165b5ef80a3cd2b14721caf62bd92&n=T&l=tips&o=27872 > (It may be necessary to cut and paste the above URL if the line is broken) > or send a blank email to > leave-27872-430248.781165b5ef80a3cd2b14721caf62b...@fsulist.frostburg.edu > > > > --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=27877 or send a blank email to leave-27877-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
