One way to address this issue would be possibly to include so-called normal, i.e., that is
non-diagnosed patients, people who have never been admitted to psychiatric institutions
and have no known history of abnormality and to mingle them with a regular section of patients.
So, how would you describe your day today?
Same as yesterday.
Did you talk to him?
You're the first person I've talked to.
Some others noted that you spend a lot of time writing in that notebook.
Yeah, I take notes.
Notes?
Yeah, notes.
I don't know, just what I see and what I hear when I'm sure they've taken notes before.
Oh, by the way, could I get a pen?
Writing with this just seems kind of a challenge.
There's no pens here.
That's a hospital policy.
Okay.
I know this is going to sound really bizarre and kind of crazy, but I'm actually with a
study group from the university.
And we went undercover to research and, I don't know, just check up on differential diagnosis
on patients and mental institutions.
And personally, since our research is almost over with, I don't think you're doing your
job right.
I mean, not everybody hears what's said.
So, you don't think it's yourself as crazy?
No, I'm not crazy.
Of course not.
Of course not.
Why don't you go back to your room and schedule some time to talk about this tomorrow, okay?
Thank you.
We noticed that you didn't take your medications again.
I don't like needles.
You do know that we give them to you to help you.
I don't want your help.
I don't want to be here.
I know.
It's important.
I don't want you to potentially hurt yourself.
I'm not going to hurt anybody.
I just don't like people.
Go!
Laugh at me when they think I came hero and they are plotting with him.
Then who?
You know, the lambires.
Rambires.
I don't want to talk about it.
So, what are you hearing?
I said I don't want to talk about it.
Okay, okay, okay.
I'll just let you go back to your room, okay?
I need you to trust me.
Take your medications, and I promise that everything will get better, okay?
I'm not going to take my medications.
If their normalcy can be easily determined, then there is de facto no problem.
On the other hand, if it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish so-called normal patients from abnormal patients,
then we have a serious and, you know, a serious problem.
It would appear that the role of the observer is frequently biased by the fact of the context where people are seen.
If you are in a mental institution, there is an all priori assumption that you are probably mentally ill.
So, how are you doing today?
Oh, good. We're good.
It's been a good day. Good breakfast.
We?
Yeah, yeah, you know, we got up, got dressed, talked over coffee, and Alice told me a great joke.
What joke?
Well, you can see.
I was walking down the street the other day.
Yeah, yeah, there was a woman walking down the street, you see.
Yeah, and she has a skinny string on her head.
So, I walked up to her.
Yeah.
And I walked up to her and asked her,
What is that for?
What's with the helmet?
Is that to keep the government from eating your mind.
Yeah, is it to keep the government out of your mind?
She turns me, she says,
No, don't be crazy.
She says, no, don't be crazy.
That's my meteor helmet.
It's my meteor helmet.
Alice told you this joke.
Oh, yeah, she's hilarious.
You know she's not real, right?
Uh, yeah, she is.
You're looking right at her.
She's here now?
Yeah.
Say hi, Alice.
I don't really want to talk to him.
I think he's rude.
Yeah, I noticed that too.
What is she telling you right now?
Well, she thinks you're rude to ignore her.
I don't think we should talk to him anymore.
Agreed.
Well, I think that'll be enough for today.
Tell Alice that I liked her joke.
She can hear you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Well, how was your day today?
Was it a good day?
You bastard!
If you don't let me out of this house,
I'm going to fucking kill you!
Damn, why are you so angry?
They served bananas in the lunch room.
Bananas?
Yeah, they make me fucking angry.
How many have feigned insanity in order to avoid the criminal consequences of their behavior?
And conversely, how many would rather stand trial than live interminably in a psychiatric hospital,
but are wrongly thought to be mentally ill?
How many have been stigmatized by well-intentioned,
but nevertheless erroneous diagnoses?
That's all you do?
All right.
You're so far so good today.
You think she knows everything because of you?
Come on, you're no better.
What's all the time?
All he does is just crack on for half an hour or more.
It's pointless.
You know this trend.
Were these people truly sane,
or was it rather the case that in the course of avoiding the Type 2 error,
the staff tended to make more errors of the first sort,
calling the crazy sane?
There is no way of knowing,
but one thing is certain,
any diagnostic process that lends itself so readily to massive errors of this sort
cannot be a very reliable one.
So what are you going to do when you finally get out of here?
First of all, I'm going to finish my research on the choice burden.
I'm going to tell everybody what goes on or really goes on here,
or I'm going to change the system.
Well, we've really, we've been thinking of,
you know, we've had some thoughts of where we want to go,
what we want to do together.
You know, what we're thinking about is just, you know,
we want, there's a big tree actually,
we want to make a tree house.
I mean, it sounds weird, but it'll be a developed tree house.
You know, like, it's,
but as long as you know where to gather,
everything seems good.
Get out of here, my bother.
It's safer to keep me here.
I think I'm going to go live in a little cabin in the woods.
You know, nobody, nobody around.
You know, like, make hot cocoa in the mornings,
and maybe like, I just think I might get a kitten,
like a really cute little kitten that I could,
even keep me company, and then nobody could hurt me,
and nobody could find me, and it'd just be me and my kitten.
Well, it's come to my attention that you've made great progress
in controlling yourself.
Now, this discharge does not mean that your work is over.
In fact, it just means that it's kind of started.
That being said, I have to admit,
I'm impressed at the progress you made here.
Now, if you ever need anything, anything at all,
feel free to give me a call.
You have my home number, you have my address.
You can visit at any time.
I'm very proud of you.
Best of luck to you in your future.
you
