On Tue, Nov 2, 2010 at 8:52 PM, Kevin M. <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Tue, Nov 2, 2010 at 8:37 PM, PGage <[email protected]> wrote: > > > I don't disagree with your disdain for McGraw, but to my knowledge he has > > never diagnosed people on either Oprah's show or his show (of course, I > have > > never seen him on Oprah, nor ever seen his show, but the President of the > > American Psychological Association, and lots of other psychologists, have > > reassured us several times that that he has never done this. > > Sadly, I have seen both, and I don't think there has ever been an > instance where he HASN'T diagnosed people. Inevitably, he says to > guests on the show, "Your problem is..." and then proceeds to diagnose > them. I suppose people can split hairs about the specific clinical > nature of what he does or fails to do, but that is not a distinction > I'm prepared to draw from a man who goes by the title of doctor, > inclues the title in his series, then tells people what is wrong with > them. And last year I wrote about the day he appeared on Anderson > Cooper's show and diagnosed middle America with depression, then > proceeded to blame Americans for their own sadness. > As I say, I don't disagree with your basic evaluation. But the distinction between the host of an entertainment television show saying "your problem is you are co-dependent" (which does not really mean anything) and a licensed psychologist saying on a television program to someone they just met "you have 301.6 Dependent Personality Disorder" is huge, and is the difference between being a pompous airbag (against which there is no law) and malpractice. Only the latter is actually diagnosis. I don't know what Ms. Spears and her parents thought they were doing when they invited McGraw to see her in the hospital, but they were not asking for, or getting, formal counseling. I assume it was just one media whore leeching off of another. Again, there is no law against that. I don't like calling him "Dr. Phil" either, because it clearly does create the false impression that he is offering formal and competent mental health services. -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
