The Wannabe Doctor: A Man's Quest Amid Psychiatry's Identity Crisis

In the 1970s in the United States, many medical professionals held psychiatry in contempt. An innovative study designed by psychologist David Rosenhan, and published in Science in 1973, provided strong evidence that psychiatrists could not reliably distinguish between normality and mental illness.

In early 1974, the American Psychiatric Association "settled" a notable scientific issue by popular vote of its members. As soon as the votes were counted, homosexuality was no longer a psychiatric...