It saddens me to see people making statements like "idiotic" and "stupid" when it comes to spinning through the overcast.
As I've already posted, this is an emergency manouvre only. Yes you can also try a stabilized descent with full flaps etc. but this may not work out so well if you are flying a glider or J-3 etc. without a turn coordinator let alone a attitude gyro (obviously it could be argued that no one should flying such a minimally-instrumented aircraft in conditions likely to lead to being 'caught on top' but these things do happen, as the accident records show).
Ludwig suggests that pilots "spend a few quid with an instructor learning what the dials do". Obviously this is good advice and I believe in most ICAO countries it is now mandatory that PPL applicants receive at least five hours of instrument time before licensing.