Dr. Joyce Bothers

PSoTD has a terrific post about his general contempt for Dr. Joyce Brothers. Read it here. Here's a highlight:

She has spent 40 years branding herself as the face of popular psychology. And as an actress. Where do her lines start, and somebody else's script end? Can anyone who has watched American television over the last 40 years have any idea? How many other panelists from "Match Game PM" should be highlighted on the cover of Parade Magazine with a "cover" article? Where's Charles Nelson Reilly's cover story? Brett Somers? Nipsey Russell?

I'm linking this not just because I enjoy blog posts expressing contempt, but also because he's got a real point here. Brothers and those who follow in her footsteps aren't doing real psychology work. They're acting as publicists for the world of psychology, reminding you that it exists and that it may even be able to solve your problems, sometimes within the course of a single televised encounter!

Dr. Phil is, to my mind, the worst of the bunch. This guy actually did a series of shows last year focusing on America's ongoing struggle with obesity. The guy's, like, way overweight. Not just in that usual American middle-aged guy way, where he's got that belly flap that kind of hangs over his belt, like he's got some sort of a Jell-O mold tucked in the front of his pants. No, he's full-on overweight. It's clear just by looking at him. Why should we trust him on the psychology of losing weight? He clearly doesn't have it figured out. It'd be like asking Courtney Love to counsel drug addicts. Let her get it together herself, then she can teach others.

Is Courtney Love too easy a target? Let me try again.

"Why should we trust Dr. Phil on the psychology of losing weight? It's like asking Lizzie Grubman to teach Driver's Ed."

A little better. I'll work on it.

I really do think these people, particularly Dr. Phil, do a good deal of harm. They present psychology as, essentially, conflict. Dr. Phil has people on his show who have problems, and he then berates, humiliates and harangues them into promising to stop whatever it is that they supposedly do wrong. Ditto Laura Schlessinger, that insufferable bitch. It's always "straighten up, do better, what the hell is wrong with you, solve your problems!"

When that's what people see from supposed mental health professionals, they start believing in that as a problem-solving tool. Are your kids not behaving like you want them to? Just "get real" with them Dr. Phil style and start berating them. It's sure to work.

The truth is, people with problems need to be reasoned with, but they need to figure things out for themselves. The best therapists (and I'll admit, I haven't known many) lead their patients towards a solution rather than instructing them about what to do. It's a long and involved process, which is why Dr. Joyce's pat radio call-in answers don't do any good, and why Dr. Phil's BS "tough love" advice is downright pernicious. Can we please get to a place as a society where we recognize that therapy is a complex life process that may or may not even work at all, and not some party trick to be performed on daytime TV in between the shows where people sue each other and the shows where Maury reveals the baby's true daddy?