title: Negative rumor: contagion of a psychiatric department.
abstract: Over the past few decades, a sizable body of literature on the effects of rumors and gossip has emerged. Addressing rumors in the workplace is an important subject, as rumors have a direct impact on the quality of the work environment and also on the productivity and creativity of the employees. To date, little has been written on the effect of rumors and gossip in psychiatric hospitals. This article presents case vignettes of rumors spread in psychiatric hospitals and the impact on team cohesion and morale among the staff implicated in these, too often, neglected occurrences. Dynamic aspects with particular focus on rumors in psychiatric units and suggestions for remedy and treatment are presented.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of California, Irvine (Dr Novac); Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Department of Psychology and Social Behavior and Department of Sports Medicine, University of California, Irvine (Dr McEwan); and Department of Psychiatry, Kaiser Permanente, Riverside, California (Dr Bota).
authors.forename: Andrei
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Novac
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of California, Irvine (Dr Novac); Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Department of Psychology and Social Behavior and Department of Sports Medicine, University of California, Irvine (Dr McEwan); and Department of Psychiatry, Kaiser Permanente, Riverside, California (Dr Bota).
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: McEwan
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of California, Irvine (Dr Novac); Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Department of Psychology and Social Behavior and Department of Sports Medicine, University of California, Irvine (Dr McEwan); and Department of Psychiatry, Kaiser Permanente, Riverside, California (Dr Bota).
authors.forename: Robert G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Bota