Dr. Phil is a Menace to Mental Healthcare

Why do we still let him have a platform?

Next week, the Dr. Phil Show will be entering its twentieth season, marking nearly two decades on the air. The popular talk show, which features Phil McGraw (a former consultant of Oprah Winfrey) giving life advice to his various guests, aired its first episode in 2002, and since then has been a staple of daytime television. But despite its longevity, the Dr. Phil Show has proven to be a toxic stain on the legitimate fields of psychology and therapeutic wellness. Dr. Phil is not a helper or a healer, but a parasite. It’s time to retire him and his harmful brand of “therapy.”

He’s not a real therapist

First off, despite holding a Ph.D. in psychology (which he got from the University of North Texas in 1979), he stopped renewing his license to practice in the field in 2006. His reasoning? “I don’t need a license. . .I’ve chosen instead to pursue another course and use of my education.” He basically thinks that his education and long career should speak for themselves, that a license is just a technicality he doesn’t need to help people. Another possible, though unconfirmed theory is that this is how he gets around HIPPA. If he’s not a licensed practitioner, then he’s not bound by any ethical code to keep his “patients’” issues private, thus…