Martha Mitchell effect
The
Martha Mitchell effect is a process by which a belief is mistakenly diagnosed as a
delusion by a psychiatrist. This is named after Martha Mitchell (the wife of
John Mitchell the
Attorney-General in the
Nixon administration) who alleged that illegal activity was taking place in the
White House. At the time her claims were thought to be signs of
mental illness, and only after the Watergate scandal broke was she proved right (and hence sane).
It was first named by psychologist Brendan Maher.
Further Reading
- Maher, B.A. (1988) Anomalous experience and delusional thinking: The logic of explanations. In T. Oltmanns and B. Maher (eds) Delusional Beliefs. New York: Wiley Interscience