Martha Mitchell effect

In general, what the patient reports is seen as a delusion, because it is thought to be improbable. There was no verification of the events, and they are therefore seen as they are seen as the symptoms of a mental illness.[1]

Examples of such situations are:

• Being pursued by organized criminals[1]
• Surveillance by law enforcement officers[1]
• Infidelity by a spouse[1]
• Physical issues

Quoting psychotherapist Joseph Berke, the authors report that, "even paranoids have enemies".[1] Delusions are "abnormal beliefs" and may be bizarre (considered impossible to be true), or non-bizarre (possible, but considered by the clinician as highly improbable). Beliefs about being poisoned, followed, having an infidel parner or a conspiracy in the workplace are examples of non-bizarre beliefs that may be considered delusions.[1] Any patient can be misdiagnosed by clinicians, especially patients with a history of paranoid delusions.

Psychologist Brendan Maher named the effect after Martha Mitchell. Mitchell was the wife of John Mitchell, United States Attorney General in the Nixon administration. When she said that White House officials were engaged in illegal activities, her claims were attributed to mental illness. In the end, the facts of the Watergate scandal proved her statements to be true. She was also called "The Cassandra of Watergate".

Even though many of her allegations remain unproved, such as her claim that she had been drugged and put under guard during a visit to California after her husband was summoned back to Washington, D.C., in order to prevent her from leaving the hotel or making phone calls to the news media, James McCord admitted in 1975 that her story was true, as reported in The New York Times.[2] More evidence supporting that Martha was telling the truth was published in a 2017 news article in Newsweek about the appointment of a U.S. ambassador.[3]

• Argument from ignorance – Logical fallacy that, since proposition has not yet been proven false, it must be true
• Cassandra – Metaphor originating from Greek mythology
• False memory – Psychological phenomenon
• Gaslighting – Form of psychological abuse
• Psychosis – Condition of the mind that involves a loss of contact with reality
• Rosenhan experiment – Experiment to determine the validity of psychiatric diagnosis
• Rosemary's Baby