Eng. 348G / Reeve
Essay 2: The Credibility of Psychiatric Diagnosis
As we’ve read in the article from the APS Observer, Chapter 3 of Opening Skinner’s Box drew
strong reactions from psychiatrists as author Lauren Slater claimed to have re-created
Rosenhan’s “thud” study from the 1970’s. Rosenhan’s critics call his study “’an
embarrassment,’” because many readers interpret Rosnhan’s results as showing psychiatric
diagnosis to be “so arbitrary it’s meaningless’” (Lilienfeld, qtd. in Jaffe 1).
What we see in Slater’s Ch. 3 and in Jaffe’s report on the psychiatric field’s reaction to Slater is
a battle for public opinion and trust. The psychiatrists renouncing Slater’s book believe it is
important to defend their profession because “the general public could interpret [Slater’s story]
as a sign of diagnostic decline” (Jaffe 2).
As a member of the “general public” and a reader of Slater, what do you think? Do Rosenhan’s
study and Slater’s recent imitation of it cause you to doubt the accuracy of psychiatric
diagnosis? Or do Spitzer and his colleagues persuade you that the work of Rosenhan and
Slater lacks merit, and that diagnosis in psychiatry has the same level of rigor and consistency
as diagnosis in any other branch of medicine?
Write an essay in which you summarize the major points of view and evidence in this debate,
and assert your own position by explaining which side of the debate you find more persuasive,
and why.
A successful essay will:
 Show that you have carefully read the texts from this unit, and that you have fully
digested and considered the different viewpoints and evidence.
 Show you are really thinking about the topic – this is a complex question, so don’t settle
for easy answers.
 Summarize the various viewpoints sufficiently that someone who’s not in our class could
understand. Assume your audience has not read these texts. Consider what general
background information as well as which details your readers need to know to recognize
the different points of view and to follow your reasoning.
 Paraphrase and quote skillfully. This means:
o
Put ideas in your own words whenever possible, while specifying whose
ideas you’re referring to. When you put something in your own words, the
author’s meaning remains true but your sentences and words are
significantly different (not just a few words changed)
o
Quote directly when the other speaker or writer’s words capture an idea
that would be substantially changed or watered down by re-phrasing. Use
“quotation marks” when including an author’s exact words. Direct quotation
should account for no more than 20% of your total writing.
o
Give the page # inside parentheses after a direct quote or a paraphrase:
Slater writes, “yadda yadda zeal to pathologize yadda yadda” (89).
o
Cite sources carefully to be clear about which text and whose views you’re
representing at any given time (we’ll work on how to do this)
o
Use your voice to lead into a quote with source and context information,
and after a quote to explain how the quote connects to your own point
 Due Friday Feb. 24: Bring your work-in-progress to class in electronic form and complete the
essay in class. All homework and in-class assignments from Ch. 3 are also due at this time.