09/30/2019
Journalist Cahalan (Brain on Fire) sets a new standard for investigative journalism in this fascinating investigation into a pivotal psychological study. In 1973, the mental health system was in trouble, she writes, thanks to weak diagnostic criteria and overburdened hospitals and health-care providers. Stanford psychologist David Rosenhan understood it would take a grand gesture to incite reform—such as recruiting seven sane individuals to feign auditory hallucinations. Rosenhan used their accounts of institutionalization to write the 1973 article “On Being Sane in Insane Places,” which sparked controversy and led to the widespread reform or closure of institutions and a revision of the DSM. However, his volunteers’ identities were never revealed, which to Cahalan raises the question—was he hiding anything? Driven by her own traumatizing experience as a misdiagnosed psychiatric patient, Cahalan pours through Rosenhan’s notes and lists of his known contacts, attempting to match real people to the study’s unnamed subjects, and ultimately is unable to find proof that six out of the seven fake patients really existed. She also discovers the wholesale omission of a volunteer’s account that contradicted Rosenhan’s argument. Her impeccable inquiry into the shadowy reality of Rosenhan’s study makes an urgent case that the psychological and psychiatric fields must recover the public trust that “Rosenhan helped shatter.” Agent: Larry Weissman, Larry Weissman Literary. (Nov.)
Named One of the Top 100 Must-Read Books of 2019 by TIME Magazine
Named a Best Book of the Month by the New York Times, Washington Post, O Magazine, San Francisco Chronicle, Houston Chronicle, Business Insider, Refinery29, Bustle, CrimeReads, Popsugar, and PureWow
Named a Best Book of the Fall by Kirkus, Bookish, and LitHub
"This is a well-crafted, gripping narrative that succeeds on many levels. Cahalan, who gained the trust of Rosenhan's family, is meticulous and sensitive in her research; compelling and insightful in her writing."—The Financial Times
"[A]n impressive feat of investigative journalism—tenaciously conduct, appealingly written... as compelling as a detective novel."—The Economist
"A sharp investigation into how human self-interest, weaknesses, and egos can shape the way that science proceeds."—Undark
"A fascinating, potent, and crucial read."—Buzzfeed
"A stranger-than-fiction thrill ride exposing the loose screws of our broken mental health system."—O Magazine, Best Books of December
"Cahalan's passionate and exhaustive reexamination of the famous research 'On Being Sane in Insane Places' by Stanford psychologist David Rosenhan is a riveting read...A terrific piece of detective work [with] fascinating insights into the mental health controversies that have swirled ever since the study's publication."—Forbes
"The Great Pretender reads like a detective story, with Cahalan revealing tantalizing clues at opportune moments so we can experience the thrills of discovery alongside her...What she unearthed turned out to be far stranger, as documented in her absorbing new book, The Great Pretender. It's the kind of story that has levels to it, only instead of a townhouse it's more like an Escher print. On one level: A profile of Rosenhan and his study. On another: Cahalan's own experience of researching the book. And on a third: The fraught history of psychiatry and the pursuit of scientific knowledge."—New York Times
"Cahalan's research is dogged and her narrative riveting, leading us from red herring to clue and back with the dexterity of the best mystery novelists. Then she builds her case like a skilled prosecuting attorney."—New York Journal of Books
"A thrilling mystery—and a powerful case for a deeper understanding of mental illness."—People Magazine
"A thrilling and lively work of investigative journalism...This vital book, full of intelligence and brio, is a must-read for anyone who has mental illness issues somewhere in their life — i.e., everyone."—Marion Winik, Minneapolis Star Tribune
"An urgent, personal book...The Great Pretender reads like a suspense novel, with the reader unable to stop turning the pages. [This book] cements Cahalan's place in the ranks of the country's sharpest writers of nonfiction. The Great Pretender is an essential book, an a plea for the world to come to terms with the way we're treating some of our most vulnerable people."—NPR
"A gripping, insightful read, The Great Pretender...has the urgency of a call to action."—TIME Magazine
"Bold, brave, and original, THE GREAT PRETENDER grips you as tightly as the madness it investigates. Cahalan writes with enormous intelligence and style, and propels you through this dark and fascinating journey into psychiatry and the very nature of sanity."—Susan Orlean, New York Times bestselling author of The Orchid Thief and The Library Book
"People have asked me over the years: If they liked The Psychopath Test, what should they read next? I now have an answer. THE GREAT PRETENDER is such an achievement. It is a wonderful look at the anti-psychiatry movement and a great adventure—gripping, investigative—and is destined to become a popular and important book."—Jon Ronson, New York Times bestselling author of The Psychopath Test and So You've Been Publicly Shamed
"A masterpiece of historical reconstruction...an intellectual detective story [and] a towering critique of our systems of mental health-care. If I could've written this book, I would have."—Ron Powers, New York Times bestselling author of No One Cares About Crazy People
"Engaging [and] illuminating."—Science
"The Great Pretender is a tight, propulsive, true-life detective story which somehow also doubles as a sweeping history of our broken mental health-care system. Cahalan herself has experienced this system as both a patient and a reporter, and her background informs every fascinating page of this dogged investigative odyssey. It is an amazing achievement, and there is no question it will go down as the definitive account of one of the most influential psychology experiments of all time."—Luke Dittrich, New York Times bestselling author of Patient H.M.
"Breathtaking! Cahalan's brilliant, timely, and important book reshaped my understanding of mental health, psychiatric hospitals, and the history of scientific research. A must-read for anyone who's ever been to therapy, taken a brain-altering drug, or wondered why mental patients were released in droves in the 1980s. And a thrilling, eye-opening read even for those who thought they weren't affected by the psychiatric world."—Ada Calhoun, author of St. Marks Is Dead and Wedding Toasts I'll Never Give
"Gripping [and] vivid...A well-told story fraught with both mystery and real-life aftershocks that set the psychiatric community on its ear...Cahalan follows all the leads like a bloodhound. Her pursuit reads like a well-tempered mystery being picked apart, with tantalizing questions for which many of the answers are just out of reach."—Kirkus, starred review
"Fascinating...Cahalan sets a new standard for investigative journalism...Her impeccable inquiry into the shadowy reality of Rosenhan's study makes an urgent case that the psychological and psychiatric fields must recover the public trust that 'Rosenhan helped shatter.'"—Publishers Weekly
"Brain on Fire was one of the most gripping, fascinating memoirs to come out in the last decade. Susannah Cahalan is back with what should be one of the most talked about books of 2019."—Inside Hook, 5 New Books You Should Be Reading This November
"Cahalan researched The Great Pretender over the course of five years, but the pages practically turn themselves. It's absorbing, sometimes sobering, sometimes seriously funny. Cahalan's narration makes the reading great fun, with an urgency occasionally akin to a thriller."—Shelf Awareness
"Brilliant...Indispensable reading."—Library Journal
"Engrossing."—Nature
"Susannah Cahalan has written a wonderful book that reflects years of persistent and remarkable historical detective work. The Great Pretender is an extraordinary look at the life of a Stanford professor and a famous paper he published in 1973, one that dramatically transformed American psychiatry in ways that still echo today. The book is fast-paced and artfully constructed—an incredible story that constitutes a tribute to Cahalan's powers as both a writer and a sleuth."—Andrew Scull, author of Madness in Civilization: A Cultural History of Insanity
"A study that facilitated one of the most destructive changes in 20th-century domestic policy appears to be withering under scrutiny."—National Review
"A journalistic adventure story. . . Illuminates a game-changing moment in the history of psychiatry in this country."—NPR
★ 2019-08-03
A sharp reexamination of one of the defining moments in the field of psychiatry.
"There are not, as of this writing, any consistent objective measures that can render a definitive psychiatric diagnosis," writes New York Post journalist Cahalan (Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness, 2012) at the beginning of this gripping account of a study that rocked the foundational concepts of how we judge sanity. In the early 1970s, David Rosenhan, a Stanford professor of psychology, sent eight sane people into hospitals for the insane in an experiment involving diagnostics and conditions for the mentally ill. The eight participants told the intake doctors that they were experiencing aural hallucinations, and they were all admitted for varying lengths of time. The resulting article, which appeared in Science, is credited with helping to change both diagnostic and hospitalization procedures. At first, Cahalan approaches the article, "On Being Sane in Insane Places" (1973), with a level of awe and appreciation and treats readers to a tour of the miseries that patients endured—most notably, isolation and dehumanization—as well as a review of her own misdiagnosis of schizophrenia. Eventually, doubts start to creep into the author's investigation, discrepancies that a purportedly scientific article should not have contained: lying about hospitalization dates, exaggerating medical records, playing with numbers, and more. Cahalan follows all the leads like a bloodhound, in particular trying to uncover the identities of the patients. Her pursuit reads like a well-tempered mystery being picked apart, with tantalizing questions for which many of the answers are just out of reach. While "On Being Sane" may have been partially fabricated, it was also an important force in the deinstitutionalization of care for the mentally ill. Cahalan draws a vivid and critical picture of Rosenhan and the ramifications of his most prominent work.
A well-told story fraught with both mystery and real-life aftershocks that set the psychiatric community on its ear.
★ 10/01/2019
Employing her journalistic research skills and intensely personal experience with misdiagnosis and the psychiatric profession, Cahalan (Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness) investigates legendary psychological researcher David Rosenhan. Psychology students will immediately recognize Rosenhan as the author of the seminal study "On Being Sane in Insane Places," an experiment in which mentally sound investigators infiltrated psychiatric hospitals by feigning symptoms suggestive of schizophrenia. Rosenhan hypothesized that psychiatric diagnosis was so imprecise that doctors could not readily differentiate the sane from the insane. Thus, while undercover investigators easily gained admission to hospitals, it was extremely challenging to get released, despite their behaving normally. Rosenhan's study helped revamp our entire mental health system, resulting in the mass closure of hospitals. But was Rosenhan correct? This is the fundamental question explored in Cahalan's brilliant book, in which she diligently traces and interviews people associated with the study, the circumstances of which became increasingly suspect. In the end, she provides a convincing argument that Rosenhan largely fabricated his research. VERDICT Indispensable reading for aficionados of Cahalan's Brain on Fire and Merve Imre's The Personality Brokers. [See Prepub Alert, 4/22/19.]—Lynne Maxwell, West Virginia Univ. Coll. of Law Lib., Morgantown
