The subject of this book is a 1970s study in which a psychologist enters a mental hospital under the guise of hearing voices, followed by several other study participants at various other hospitals and asylums. Will “sane”people be diagnosed with mental illness simply by presenting with symptoms? What is happening in these facilities, how are patients being treated, and how do they get out? This book was inspired by the author’s own medical misdiagnosis, after she suffered from a debilitating autoimmune disorder that presented like mental illness (see her memoir, Brain on Fire).

So the premise is interesting enough but what ends up being really captivating is the whole idea that maybe this study was not what it seemed. As Calahan researched, she found a lot of conflicting information and questioned the validity of the study, and whether it’s consequences were beneficial or not. This surprised me but it shouldn’t have, really. There were some very profound facts about incarceration and mental illness, the lack of available mental health care, and how detrimental that is, in so many ways. And in some ways this is a direct result of studies like the one in this book, showing psych wards and asylums in the worst possible light, public/professional outcry to shut them down - but then what? That doesn’t fix mental illness or address the needs of so many. Very thought provoking.

I haven’t read Calahan’s memoir but I’m interested! I read the audio version of this one and it was well-narrated. Always an easier way to digest this kind of non-fiction for me. Some parts of the book were a little dense & hard to keep track of listening but I still think it was the way to go.

I tried to get into this one, but it gets even darker than Susannah's last book. This is definitely not for the faint of heart. The goings-on inside these places is just horrifying to think about.

Another book with a great premise, and talking about a really interesting part of psychiatric history and an altogether important topic. But it is missing something and has a few inaccuracies that give me pause. Maybe because I have studied psychology and psychiatry it makes me a bit picky with this kind of stuff, but I think it's super important that when we are talking about topics that are as important as this, we really need to get it right and provide the accurate details and information.

At the very least, the actual Rosenhan article should have been included in the book itself.

I was intinially interested in this book because even though we've made great strides in the mental health area of medicine, we still have sooooo far still to go.

David and his colleagues are definitely braver than I am because I don't think I could put myself through all that. They expose the atrocities that occured in these institutions and how inaccurate the diagnoses of mental illness can be.

This was a highly insightful, well researched, and eye opening book I highly encourage you to pick up.

A truly captivating read delving into mental illness. This book read like a thriller but had all the best elements of a great piece of investigative journalism.

Compassionate, thought-provoking, and unbelievably in-depth. Perhaps too much so, but perhaps not, considering the complexity of the subject matter, which enfolds intertwined history with an examination of how we think and feel about mental illness.

This book is a loose follow up to Cahalan’s first book Brain on Fire (loose in that you don’t have to read Brain on Fire first, but I recommend that you do). This is an intriguing look at our mental health system and how it has been shaped over the years. In particular this book focuses on a study published in the journal “Science” in the 1970s by Stanford psychologist David Rosenhan. Rosehan’s study had wide reaching consequences for the field of psychiatry, but when Cahalan went to find more information about the study, she discovered that not everything was exactly as it seems. I am fascinated by psychology and this book made me think more deeply about the hows and whys of our current systems. It has a lot of information and data but was very interesting and kept me engaged in listening the whole time.

I read the author's first book, <i>Brain on Fire</i> for book club and found her research and presentation excellent so requested this new novel from NetGalley. Mental illness is terrifying to me. Watching my mother experience the horrifying decline of dementia is not something anyone is ever prepared for. This book was also well researched and well-present if a bit dry at times. Its based on the Rosenhan experiment and I would recommend it to anyone with a sincere interest in psychology and mental illness as well as the mental health profession.

Want to talk about a fascinating read? My goodness, The Great Pretender, is it. For as long as I can remember how and why people end up in asylums has fascinated me. And with reading this book Cahalan provides an inside look in mental illness and these facilities. I was sucked into this book, this well researched topic need like 100 more pages, I couldn’t get enough of it. If you enjoy topics on mental Illness and medicine in general, I highly recommend this book. 4/5 stars



Thank you Grand Central Publishing & Netgalley for gifting me this darc in exchange for an honest review.

DNF. This was a fascinating topic, but I just couldn't get into it at all. It just felt really long and repetitive. The writing also didn't hook me at all -- it felt a bit clinical and focused a lot more on the author's research than on the emotional impact of the experiences she writes about. I might have enjoyed it as a long-form article rather than a book.

I read and enjoyed Brain on Fire by Susannah Cahalan so I was eager to get my hands on The Great Pretender! This is an interesting look at mental health

For centuries, doctors have struggled to define mental illness-how do you diagnose it, how do you treat it, how do you even know what it is? In search of an answer, in the 1970s a Stanford psychologist named David Rosenhan and seven other people — sane, normal, well-adjusted members of society — went undercover into asylums around America to test the legitimacy of psychiatry’s labels. Forced to remain inside until they’d “proven” themselves sane, all eight emerged with alarming diagnoses and even more troubling stories of their treatment. Rosenhan’s watershed study broke open the field of psychiatry, closing down institutions and changing mental health diagnosis forever.

But, as Cahalan’s explosive new research shows, very little in this saga is exactly as it seems. What really happened behind those closed asylum doors, and what does it mean for our understanding of mental illness today?

Would you be so committed to learning that you’d head to a psychiatric hospital? I find this extremely fascinating. The book, well written and detailed, is a little dry at times probably due to the subject matter. Still, if you have an interest in mental health and if you read Susannah’s book Brain On Fire, I think you will like this.

Buy The Great Pretender here!

Thanks to Grand Central publishing and Netgalley for this free e-book! I was very excited to get a copy of this due to my previous devouring of the author’s book, “Brain on Fire”.

In “The Great Pretender”, Cahalen not only gave a fairly good overview of past psychiatric and psychology practices, but gave a comprehensive investigation of individuals who volunteered to be part of an experiment by psychologist, David Rosenhan, to truly find out what truly happens in these psychiatric hospitals in the 1970’s.

As horrible as one imagines such a place and how to treat individuals with mental illness, nothing quite prepares you as you read what the undercover participants describe.

My interest in this book also comes from personal reasons, as my grandmother was once a patient in a psychiatric hospital that is mentioned in this book. This was back when it was much preferable to lock up your loved ones due to no current medical therapies and medications that exist today. She, at the age of 30, had sudden onset severe anxiety and depression. All the various experimental treatments listed by the participants in this study, were ones she also received.

Although the past treatment of mentally ill patients was deplorable, I think Cahalen brings up some very valid points. Mental illness isn’t going away and I believe anyone in the medical field should read this. We should never stop striving to find more humane treatment, and funding should be hugely increased to this often forgotten sector.

Where do I begin with this brilliant and important book about mental illness. Susannah Cahalab writes this eye opening thriller that takes us back to the 80s when mental illness was hidden within the walls of psychiatric hospitals. This book honestly floored me. This book needs to read by everyone! Mental illness is something that never seems to be treated right and this rings true today. I applaud Susannah for writing such a important book with The Great Pretender!

Thank you Net Galley for the free ARC. Calahan writes about the difficulty in telling whether somebody is sane or insane. Most of the research is based on the Rosenhan studies from the 1970's where he and several others infiltrated mental hospitals to challenge them to a diagnosis.

I had a really hard time getting into this one. There was a lot of psychology history and was too slow for me. Overall this isn't one I'll be recommending.

coming out, I knew I needed to read it. I read Brain on Fire when I was going through my own neurological issues and it really hit me in the feels and has stuck with me. The Great Pretender does make references to Susannah’s experiences in Brain on Fire, so if you are interested in reading both I’d recommend reading Brain on Fire first.

Alright, back to The Great Pretender. This book explores the misdiagnosis of mental illness and the differential treatment of individuals labeled as mentally ill in the past and present. To do so Susannah investigates the Rosenhan experiment which was a study where a group of healthy volunteers (including Dr. Rosenhan) get themselves admitted to mental health facilities in the early 1970s. These volunteers experience the dehumanizing treatment of patients in the facilities firsthand and how diagnosis is really not founded in science, but more so in bias.

This was an endlessly fascinating book with some unexpected revelations. I highly recommend this one for anyone interested in modern psychiatry’s history or for anyone who enjoys reading about mental health. I will not lie, it is hard to read at times but ultimately I think this is a fascinating and enlightening story that I hope many people read.

What a fascinating, educational read! I love the way the author weaves her experience and history together to show the reader the way psychology has changed over the years. The stories are emotional, gripping, and even heartbreaking. I highly recommend The Great Pretender

The Great Pretenders | Susannah Cahalan | I’m so sad I didn’t love this one! HE GREAT PRETENDER looks at what really happened behind closed doors in David Rosenhan’s study of mental illness. In it, Rosenhan and seven other “normal” members of society went undercover into American asylums to test the legitimacy of psychiatry’s labels. They had to “prove” their sanity before they could be let free...but unfortunately, as compelling as his study sounds, this book ended up being very dry. I have a psychology background, too, so much of her research was familiar, but I can’t really figure out what her angle was. DNF at 17%.

According to NAMI, 1 in 25 American adults experience serious mental illness each year. That's an enormous number and it's even more shocking when you consider the state of mental health treatment. I haven't done a lot of reading around this topic as it makes me sad, but I found that The Great Pretender was a great starter. I also once again owe thanks to LitHub for a great excerpt from and article about this book which brought it to my attention.
Thanks to Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Over the past few years the conversation around mental health has changed drastically. Amongst my friends and peers, seeing a therapist is no longer something you need to hide or be ashamed off. Suffering from anxiety or depression is not just accepted, it is something friends will try to support you in as well. However, there is still a very long way to go when it comes to enough support and treatment being available. It means people are suffering with no recourse, especially in countries where healthcare doesn't receive enough funding. Books such as The Great Pretender, which dig into the history of psychiatry, the different forms it has taken and the studies that have shaken it up, is a great start to educate more people, while also sharing the deeply personal stories of those suffering from mental health stories.

Cahalan prefaces this book with her own story of hospitalization for encephalitis (She wrote her first book, Brain on Fire, about her experiences) and how the drastically the treatment she received changed once her diagnosis became physical rather than mental. She begins her research into why mental health issues are treated so differently from other physical ailments by looking into asylums and those, like Nellie Bly, who tried to expose them for their treatment in the 19th century. From there she discovers Rosenhan's study 'On Being Sane in Insane Places', a study that shook psychiatry and contirbuted to American institutions being closed and psychiatric diagnosis becoming more rigid and impersonal. As she digs in deeper and deeper, Cahalan frequently makes segues to explain more of the history of psychiatry in the USA. The story of Rosemary Kennedy absolutely broke my heart and the knowledge that what happened to her happened to countless of other people against their will is chilling. It is what makes the end of The Great Pretender very important. Towards the end, as she uncovers more and more oddities about Rosehan's study, Cahalan addresses both the revolutionary discoveries being made and the skepticism towards scientific studies that has grown more prevalent. She doesn't take the easy road and solely blame scientists, not at the end or at any point in the book. Rather, Cahalan uses her own experience and that of others to show how necessary medicine and good care is, while not shying away to show the darker spots where greed and complacency have wrecked lives. The Great Pretender is a read that packs a punch and that has had me thinking for a while now.

Susannah Cahalan is a great writer and her experience in journalism shines through in The Great Pretender. She ties all her research, her data and her conversations into a personal odyssey to find out everything she can about the study that had an enormous impact on her as well as the field of psychiatry. Cahalan manages to make this journey exciting, frustrating, eye-opening and truly emotional, which means that the 400-odd pages of The Great Pretender flew by for me. It's meticulously researched but written almost like a thriller novel. Cahalan's own frustration and pain is very clear, but so is her hope and trust in the improvement of the industry. I will definitely be reading Brain on Fire next and keep an eye out for furthering writing by Cahalan.

The Great Pretender was a great read and one that has resulted in a big list of further reading. Cahalan's writing is engaging and her research detailed. I'd recommend this to anyone with an interest in psychiatry or looking for a good non-fiction read.

In "The Great Pretender," Susannah Cahalan gives us a brief overview of how the mentally ill have been treated throughout the centuries. This does not make for pleasant reading. Among the remedies in vogue at one time or another were beating people to chase out their demons; placing them in ice baths; restraining or caging them in confined spaces for long periods of time; performing lobotomies that sometimes obliterated their personalities; and dosing them with drugs that caused them to drool, shake, and walk around in a stupor. On the other hand, some visionaries placed the emotionally disturbed in cheerful environments, gave them nourishing food, engaged them in wholesome activities, and hired humane doctors and nurses to tend to their needs. However, the latter was the exception, not the rule. To this day, many of us fear men and women who hear voices, speak or scream unintelligibly, neglect their hygiene and appearance, and more and more frequently, live on the streets. Cahalan says, "There is something profoundly upsetting about someone who does not share our reality."

The author goes on to discuss the work of Stanford University psychologist David Rosenhan who, in the 1970s, allegedly managed to get himself and seven other healthy individuals (all of whom feigned their symptoms) admitted into various asylums. Based on their experiences, Rosenhan wrote a groundbreaking paper, "On Being Sane in Insane Places," that appeared in 1973 in the prestigious journal, "Science." Rosenhan's findings gave a black eye to psychiatric institutions—depicting them as "authoritarian and degrading," and their employees as cold, incompetent, and uncaring. This widely-read study may have, to a small extent, helped hasten the deinstitutionalization of thousands of sick people who, in many cases, ended up in jail or on the streets.

In an unexpected twist, Cahalan looks into Rosenhan's background and discovers, much to her surprise, that this charismatic teacher and researcher may have falsified at least a portion of the data that he used to critique mental hospitals. She interviews men and women who knew and worked with Rosenhan, examines his unpublished notes, and locates discrepancies and anomalies that cast doubt on his data and methodology. Although "The Great Pretender" has quite a few tangents that seem like filler, it is a compelling and persuasive warning that so-called scientific studies may be misleading or fraudulent. In addition, Cahalan makes a convincing case that, although skilled psychiatrists alleviate suffering every day, psychiatry still has a long way to go when it comes to diagnosing mental illness and providing safe and effective treatments.