Pseudopatients

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Individuals who feign mental illness for research purposes
2. subjects who deliberately simulate psychiatric symptoms to gain admission to treatment facilities
3. participants in studies designed to investigate the validity of psychiatric diagnoses and evaluation methods

Etymology: In 1973, the psychologist David Rosenhan published "On Being Sane in Insane Places," describing eight healthy people who gained admission to American psychiatric hospitals by claiming to hear voices, then behaved normally once inside. Rosenhan's term for these participants, "pseudopatients," has since been used for anyone who feigns illness to get into treatment. The plural is built from "pseudo-," from Greek "pseudēs," meaning "false," and "patient," from Latin "patiens," "suffering" or "enduring." English first used "patient" for one who endures hardship, and the sense of a person under medical care developed later.