This made my day. I've hated Dr. Phil for so long and for the past 4 months at work the TV has been controlled by a couple woman that watch him everyday. So I've suffered in having to at least listen to him 3-4 times a week and his idiotic proposals.

Thank you Dr. Rob, I have more ammunition to fight against watching him now. All I use to have was saying he was a test tube baby made from shock value and old cliches.

Ditto on your Dr Phil loathing; that guy is a paragon of douchebaggery.

As one in recovery, I can speak to two elements of this post: the use of interventions, and the prevalence of psuedo-psychiatrists in the field of addiction treatment.

On interventions - they only really work when the addict really, really wants help (and most addicts really really want help, but are fundamentally unable to help themselves) and are at a point where they can let go of their denial long enough to accept the kind of help an intervention is designed to offer. The odds of these two elements occurring at the same time the family is offering the intervention is rare. In my case, I 'hit bottom', was in the hospital, and my family offered me a last lifeline - I took it, but not until I let go of any illusion that I could do it on my own.

On pseudo-psychiatrists - the recovery world is rife with them. Anybody with experience as an addict or working with addicts can become licensed as a chemical dependency counselor, regardless of their previous education. So, often you meet addiction counseling professionals who are nothing more than charismatic advice givers with absolutely no insight into the complex psychological disfunction that is at the root of most addicts' destructive behavior.

AA has a prevalence of these types of characters, who take newly sober addicts under their wing, but are only capable of spouting off AA rhetoric. The result is that the addict's main issues go untreated because they've been allayed by the pseudo-spiritual treatment most recovery programs offer. Unfortunately, most addicts can't afford, or aren't offered, the type of treatment they really need.

I don't know if Britney is an addict, but she seems to be exhibiting the sort of erratic behavior I've seen in addicts before.

Great story, Dr. Rob! I'd like to continue to see some shorter pieces.

Ah,Dr.Rob,you kick major ass,this is one solid blog that updates OFTEN! as opposed to others...thanks for uncovering frauds such as Phil

I've never watched his show. As a matter of fact, I don't watch Oprah. I think it's best I keep it that way.

eh, you've posted better stories.

Yeah I heard about Dr. Phil not being a licensed psychologist....but he does have a doctorate so I guess that makes him legitimate in some ways...just like me having a degree in Education but not being "licensed" does not mean that I don't consider myself a teacher. (btw...I am licensed but only for two more years while I'm here in Japan after that I'll be just another person with an Education degree but that doesn't make me any less knowledgeable than other licensed teachers) I'm not the biggest Dr. Phil fan but I certainly don't hate him...he's doing really well for himself right now and if I could do what he's doing I would lol.

@Maggy: Yes, but your license is *expiring.* It wasn't legally *removed* for malpractice. :P

Well, I noticed this article after seeing your post a couple of days ago I thought it might interest you.

http://tv.msn.com/tv/article.aspx?news=293490>1=7703

Looks like you aren't the only one noting his lack of credentials.

Did you go to his presentation at the annual APA conference in New Orleans (2 years ago?) I was pretty annoyed that the APA chose him, considering his past. You'd think they wouldn't want to support someone with ethical violations and no license to practice (stemming from his ethical violation).

I hate that when people hear Psychologist they think of that guy.