Article Reviews

Overcoming the Impossible

The article was written by Ronald Bassman. The primary purpose of the article was allowing
Bassman to explain his experiences of being diagnosed with schizophrenia and his recovery from this
disorder. Bassman believes that by speaking out, there is a greater propensity that others will be helped.
There is a chance for recovery, a fact that many people still remain skeptical of. However, as explained,
psychiatric hospitals may not be beneficial for schizophrenic patients since recounting experiences and
thoughts, causes patients to subject themselves to increased stress and suffering.
I found the article to be interesting since it was not truly an experiment, but I still gained a
greater understanding of schizophrenia. The narrative, as presented, gives the populace a unique
outlook on schizophrenia, and the fact that institutionalized care may not be the most desirable option. I
tended to agree with a lot of what Bassman had to stay, and I learned a great deal from his story.
Overall, there were ethical considerations brought up, in the form of sending schizophrenic patients to
hospitals when it may in fact be hurting them.

Whos Crazy Here Anyway?
The research was conducted by Rosenhan. The purpose was to discover if the traits that lead to
psychological diagnoses reside in the patients themselves. Rosenhan gathered eight people to serve as
pseudopatients, meaning that they went to psychological hospitals and complained about voices,
when in reality, they were normal. The hospital stays for these patients lasted approximately between
7 and 52 days. Doctors were not able to diagnose them as sane even though other patients in the facility
had the ability to.
I was surprised at this research since I was not accustomed to the idea that the validity of
psychological hospitals could be compromised, in such a way. It was truly startling that some of the
doctors at these psychiatric hospitals were not able to distinguish people who actually had disorders to
those who were merely faking. These results have concrete applications in criminals who may act insane
to avoid standing trial or to gain shorter sentences. I agree with the conclusions of the research and
believe that the methodology was sound. There were no real ethical considerations in the research.

The Schizophrenias
The article was written by Sharon Begley. The purpose of the article was to examine
schizophrenia in greater depth. Schizophrenia is a difficult psychological disorder to diagnose, but some
symptoms were shown to include delusions, hallucinations, frequently derailed/incoherent speech,
catatonic behavior, or the absence of feeling or volition (negative symptoms). The article explained that
some people afflicted with schizophrenia hear voices that can either carry on a conversation or running
commentary. The disorder caused activation in multiple parts of the brain, but is especially associated
with low activity within the frontal lobes. The precise causes of schizophrenia are not yet known, but
some factors are believed to be the age of the father and prenatal factors that predispose a person.
I thought that the article as a whole was interesting. Schizophrenia is well-known disorder, but
not much is known about it, even to this day. I agree with the results of the conclusions and believe that
the methodologies listed were sound. The main questions that the article raises are what factors causes
the dopamine imbalance within the brain as well as the low activity in the frontal lobes. I personally
wondered why it is more difficult to determine the causes for schizophrenia as opposed to other
psychological disorders. There were no real ethical considerations in the research.