Book Review - The Great Pretender: The Undercover Mission That Changed Our Understanding of Madness by Susannah Cahalan

 

The Great Pretender: The Undercover Mission That Changed Our Understanding of Madness by Susannah Cahalan is about the author’s journey of getting a mental diagnosis, and the history of mental illness. When Susannah was experiencing debilitating symptoms that caused erratic behavior, she sought out medical help. Susannah didn’t realize how overwhelming and stressful the process would be. She thought she would be able to get a straightforward diagnosis. Instead, doctors questioned her mental wellbeing, downgrading her pain, along with a host of other issues. 

After years and countless doctor visits, Susannah finally reached a doctor who gave her a diagnosis and a treatment plan. She felt relieved to finally reach the light at  the end of the tunnel, after numerous failed attempts. Susannah then wondered if other people had the same issue with getting diagnosed. 

As Susannah delved deeper into her research, she wondered how insanity is defined? How is it treated and what is it?  She decides to look into the 1970s research study that was performed by a Stanford psychologist, David Rosenhan. He and seven other people went undercover into asylums across America to test and discover how patients were being diagnosed, the conditions the patients were in, and the all around atmosphere of the asylum. David and his colleagues were all well regarded, healthy, and sane people who were curious about the insane asylums. They wanted to see if they could get themselves committed and how it felt to be a patient. As she read through documentation from the experiment, she realized that the study was a cornerstone for how the field of psychiatry is viewed and shaped today.

The book was an interesting read. The book first starts off describing the author’s experience on getting a diagnosis and her struggles with finding a correct treatment plan. I enjoyed reading about her experience because it was similar to experiences I or people close to me have had. I am not sure if our experience can be lumped together as a “female problem” or not having the proper medical care. However, it was disheartening to read about her complaints falling on deaf ears or being told that she is imagining things or exaggerating her pain, and as a result not getting the proper care. I feel like it is very easy to discount someone's experiences or disagree when they are not similar to yours or what you expect. It was inspiring seeing the author experience something similar to my own medical journey and that it ended with a diagnosis and treatment plan that worked for her.

The book then talks about a revolutionary study in mental health and how it came about. I liked reading about the participants' experiences and why the researchers decided to run the experiment and the aftermath. The later part of the book was a bit confusing at times because the author did jump back and forth between the topics often or it was very repetitive. At times, it was also hard to see what the correlation was between the two topics. 

Towards the end, the author starts to pull apart Rosenhan’s study. She believes that the Rosenhan study was a farce and lists out the reason why she believes that to be true. We weren’t given a definite answer but the reader is left to their own devices to decide whether or not it is true. I learned a lot about the field after reading the book but my favorite part was reading about the patients’ experiences.