Oprah's Dr. Phil: Classic or Dud?

I have/had some severe mental disorders (ooh, surprise, sit down, etc), some of which are experiential (is that a word), some of which are genetic*. I've been forced into therapy by my parents, which has led me to really despise therapists in all forms. It's not that the woman wasn't nice enough or did something horrible. It's that she just really didn't listen and kept trying to put me on Paxil. Paxil is a drug that treats anxiety disorder. I may have a lot of things wrong with me, but I don't have a panic disorder. It gets into very tricky territory, but when put in an upsetting situation, I can get very tense and overreactive BUT that is not the same thing as panic attacks and she very well knew this. However, Paxil was a pretty new, heavily pushed drug at the time (as it seems to be again - look at the adverts! Ooh!), and she insisted on putting me on it. All it did was make me irritated that I had to take it - that's it. I didn't have the problem that drug was meant to treat, but because of industry kickbacks, I was being placed on it.

The reasoning was, that even though I had been in therapy for about 3 months and had talked about loads and loads of things besides this, when she said she had to talk to my mom to put me on medication, I rushed out the story I hadn't told her, which involved a recent (at the time) sexual assault. Immediately I went from being borderline personality/bipolar (she couldn't quite figure out how severe I was, borderline being more severe than bipolar) to having post-traumatic stress syndrome. I was like, yes, but what about EVERY OTHER THING I SAID TO YOU? All the bullshit that happened before the VERY recent thing? Arrgh.

I really hate therapists, I do believe they are prostitutes, both of the emotional kind and the real kind with their bloody kickbacks, and I hate the idea of ever going to one. It gets me angry and I can't really quite think straight about it. I have an aunt who has been in "therapy" for 16 years! Hello, shouldn't you be cured by now?? My cousin was in therapy and it did nothing because they just tried to put him on Ritalin, and he ended up attempting suicide and now lives in hospital. I have had nothing but bad experiences, via myself and friends, with therapy and I find that, again in my experience and this could be EXTREMELY SKEWED, that the only people who actualy seem to get *anything* out of therapy are people who aren't really bad off to begin with - those common cold depressions you were speaking of, kate.

Argh, end of way too much information rant.

It's obvious Dr. Phil doesn't even like people, it is just a forum to make himself known, to sell his books, and get his own show.

Dr Phil on hearing his wife is pregnant.

"And I said, that's it I'm getting a vasectomy"

Dr Phil talks about reversing his vasectomy.

"They said it might take a year to impregnate my wife successfully, but I had her pregnant in 6 weeks". He talks about it like he was hunting fuckin rabbits or something. You could just imagine him in the bar with his friends screaming "I KNOW!!! AND I HAD THE BITCH KNOCKED UP IN 6 WEEKS!!!!" and them all going apeshit.

I'M WORKING, BUSTING MY ASS TO MAKE A LIVING THAT NO ONE HAS EVER GIVEN ME A DIME I HAVEN'T EARNED ( I'M A WHITE MALE BUSINESS OWNER) AND I GO HOME AFTER A HARD DAY AND IMMEDIATLEY HIT WITH WHAT OPRAH AND DR PHIL HAVE SAID

I DONT GIVE A DAMN WHAT SHE HAS BEEN MULLING OVER ALL DAY SINCE SHE HEARD IT ON OPRAH.

WHY DON'T THE TALK RADIO CHANNELS GIVE US A PREVIEW OF WHAT DR PHIL SAID SO WE KNOW WHAT KIND OF SHIT WE ARE GOING TO GET WHEN WE HIT THE DOOR????

IF I KNEW WHAT THE TOPIC WAS....I COULD TURN THE PICKUP AROUND AND HEAD FOR THE NEAREST BAR.

THANKS

Dr. Phil is silly. Some of my closest friends have asked me to stick their penis in my mouth..

hell, if I had a penis, I'd ask all my friends if I could put it in their mouths!

Now, if they put all those errors in a book, I'd BUY that book before any other self-help book.

Great!

im just glad to finally discover that im not the only one.
i thought i may have been missing the point somehow because all i could see was some guy yelling commonsense at whinging idiots.
i am always deeply suspicious of anyone who practices 'psychology for the masses' on TEE VEE !!

Actually, I think this was a theme for a Maury Povich episode this week...

Some of y'all have taken the two 1)stop whining and 2)get a hobby ideas and combined them into a full-time hobby of whining on the internet and you think you're intellectuals now. Capable of discerning whether or not Dr. Phil has value for everyone else even though you couldn't tell if your own doctor who was ignoring you and if that might be a problem when he is prescribing you drugs - oh yeah i trust your judgement. And taking illegal buspar on the side sent to you in the mail by your mother? way to go ! anti-establishment runs in your blood i guess you have all the answers you need.

This site gave me a lot of laughs. Seriously though there is nothing wrong with paying for legitimate services, that's what money is for, to serve you. Not the other way around. Those afraid of somehow "prostituting" their mental health to legitimate professionals made me laugh the hardest. I expect they don't trust their cars to qualified mechanics either, only to guys that say they will do it for free. Maybe they beg for money. Probably don't give to the collection plate at church. And so on. Well I have a nickel's worth of free advice for you my "friends" - and i mean that word in the strictest of jest - just because something doesn't help or inspire you doesn't mean it won't help or be meaningful to someone else ! In fact, your uninspiring words didn't help me a damned bit ! I felt much less manic depressive after watching Dr. Phil today than i do now worrying about what i just read here right now ! I can't decide if i'm happy from laughing so hard or if i want to cry because so much of what you wrote is really so sad.

If someone is coping with having grown up abused, Dr. Phil is not the person to get help from. Going to a drive-through mental health facility is also not a good idea because HMO's are interested in minimizing the number of visits you make. They're more likely to push antidepressants or whatever other medications they come up with regardless of what your actual situation may be. You have a right to interview a therapist before agreeing to work with him or her on a long term basis. If you are going to trust someone with your thoughts and feelings, you need to feel right about working with them over the long haul.

I grew up horribly abused and I needed long term therapy with a therapist who was appropriate for my particular circumstances. Instead, I was referred to bad, crappy, lousy, WRONG therapists and it did more harm than good. Eventually, I shopped for a therapist. I told my summed-up story over and over again, I jotted down referral names and numbers, I made phone call after phone call, I interviewed and dismissed a couple therapists after talking with them, asking questions about their treatment approaches and getting a feel for their opinions on issues that were important to me. I finally found a therapist I could afford and who was right for me; I worked with her for a number of years until, eventually, I reached a point where I didn't feel a pressing need for therapy. I kept up sessions out of habit for a while but realized I was searching for things to talk about. My therapist simply said, "That's the goal of therapy, to get to where you don't need it."

A good therapist is like a coach. They don't do the work for you but they'll help you along, encourage you at times, and point out things to pay attention to. A barking drill sargeant like Dr. Phil would be among the worst kinds of therapists you could give to someone dealing with childhood abuse. I shudder to imagine the likes of him working in a rape crisis clinic.

Dr. Phil has an approach that strikes me as insensitive to individuality and simplistic. His father's colorful axioms do not apply to everyone and everything.

As for Oprah, I stopped watching her around the time she was making "Beloved" and got all preachy-spiritual. It rubs me the wrong way how she preaches and moralizes to people who, en masse, unquestioningly chant "Ohhh-prah! Ohhh-prah! Ohhh-prah!" I don't want Oprah-the-billionaire telling me I have to give money to her Angel network while she flaunts the fact of her millions and I don't want her as my spiritual advisor. I'm tired of her referencing "my mentor, Maya Angelou" before she launches into a preachy-sermon moment. I have nothing against her success, I just feel she's let it get to her head and she's milking people for money in the guise of helping or spirituality. Gloria Steinem and "Ms." magazine is one thing, "O" is something else (Oprah's on the cover all the time, what IS that about?).

I checked out her show again several weeks ago, it nauseated me and I turned it off. I used to watch her show often but now I can't stomach her holier-than-thou approach. For some reason, Oprah's show and magazine reminds me of Pat Robertson's "700 Club" and Doctor Phil is kind of like the Jerry Falwell of psychiatry. I watched a couple episodes of Dr. Phil's show, my stomach churned, and I paid attention to the physical cue. I imagine him as something like a snake oil salesman from days gone by.

If I were interviewing therapists today like I did several years ago, I would scratch Dr. Phil off my list and say "NEXT!" He's not someone I would entrust with the care of my mind, body or soul.

HOW'S THAT WORKING OUT FOR YOU???????

what a show today i tell you i'm still soaking wet

http://www.cbc.ca/gfx/pix/drphil_cp_5484608.jpg

Using any excuse to show the world the Dr. Feel w/the image hosting help of cbc.ca

but you GOTTA brag on yourself!

Dr. Phil Fights Xbox Live Racism! Keep up the good fight, doctor!

I am kind of addicted to this show.

Dr Phil just said "internets"

Dude is classic.

please be kidding!

he's like a big holier than thou marshmellow!

Classically entertaining television. Not nec. good for advices.

omg i can't even stand his face... he thinks he's like mr. together. IF HE'S SO TOGETHER WHY IS HE SO UGLY?

^^real talk

He's like a successful version of my dad.

He's like an asshole version of my dad. Not to say that my dad has made the same amount of money as Dr. Phil - he hasn't, I'm sure - but I think that the largest distinguishing characterisitic b/t Dr. Phil and Dr. Bob (my dad) is that Dr. Bob is not, by default, an asshole.

the way the show insists upon showing him aggressively expressing his loyalty to his wife at the end of each show kind of creeps me out, to be honest, among other things regarding his personal presentation. but, his son seems kind of alright, so, i dunno...

yeah i always feel bad that she has to sit through every taping. its like dating someone in a band and having to go to all of their shows. torture.

I'm astonished/amused she goes along with it. The other day he had her talk about how she gained 50 lbs. when she was pregnant!

"But then you worked out and lost it, right honey?"
"That's right, I exercised it all off as fast as I could."

!!!

Oh and this was the Mother's Day episode.

I am with Surmounter on this one. I hate Dr. Phil and his ass face.

good god.

yeah, fuck that guy.

i don't like to impugn people over the internet s, but he is already likely a millionaire, so i don't feel guilty. plus he was supposedly involved with some dubious LGAT group stuff, so...

LGAT?

hahaha

it's some geography grad exam

"large group awareness training"

see: Landmark Foundation, Lifespring, est, etc...

Dude: makes total sense that would be his scene, the fuckah!

The pregnancy thing, wau.

Yes, fuck that guy, someone, please... and then drag him out onstage to talk about how gracefully he managed to lose weight post-partum.

please be kidding!

he's like a big holier than thou marshmellow!

-- Surmounter, Wednesday, May 14, 2008 9:49 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

He's like a big Mallo Cup, but stuffed with excrement from an elephant who's overdosed on "Circus Peanut" candies, instead of "Mallo".

i knew this guy was a sick fuck
http://www.nydailynews.com/money/2009/10/08/2009-10-08_dr_phil_accused_of_groping_patients_breasts_holding_her_captive.html

Hey now!

(btw I don't like him but that suit sounds like bullshit)

http://totallylookslike.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/dr-phil2.jpg

Ask him all about it on IrE!

Ask Dr. Phil

Well then.

In 2007, Dieu, Crystal Matchett, and four others spent a week living in "The Dr. Phil House," a sound-stage residence wired to the hilt with cameras and microphones.

The unstable patients' shenanigans were aired as a weekly segment on Dr. Phil, the syndicated daytime talk show hosted by Phil McGraw and aired locally on KCBS/Channel 2.

The goal of the segments, according to court papers filed by the defense, "was to focus each of the participants on their ability to tolerate unique individuals and situations, and to resist their own judgmental character."

Dieu, a self-professed man-hater who says, "(men) don't think with their brains; they think only from the waist down," was confronted by a nudist who showed up to dinner bearing his frank and beans.

Dieu and Matchett locked themselves in the bathroom, "horrified and crying," according to Matchett's sworn declaration, while a crew member stood on the other side shouting, "Come out, Shirley, and see the naked man."

;-)

PHIL!!!!!!!!!!

MINNEAPOLIS — A 22-year-old Minnesota man is suing producers of a "Dr. Phil" television spinoff, saying he was tricked into discussing blemishes on his penis.

Tyler Bowling of Lakeville also accuses the CBS-distributed show "The Doctors" of airing a rerun of the segment despite his protests. Bowling tells the Star Tribune he felt violated.

Bowling says he agreed to do the show in Hollywood in exchange for free laser surgery to remove pearly penile papules. The whitish bumps are non-contagious and harmless.

Bowling says he was told the show would only be seen by medical students. When he learned that wasn't the case, he says he was cajoled into doing it.

Bowling also says the procedure didn't work.

Representatives for the television show and the doctor had no comment Tuesday.

http://coolaggregator.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/drphil1.jpg

http://www.nomorepapules.com/

pearly penile papules

Truly...something.

I just learned about those last night!

http://persimusic.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/police_synchronicity.jpg

Judge: Dr. Phil 'a terrible, terrible man.'

http://coolaggregator.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/drphil1.jpg

BIG KNIFE! SMALL WIFE! pic.twitter.com/W9evOykj5H

— Dr. Phil (@DrPhil) March 26, 2020

so weird you'd bump this thread because just this very morning I was wondering to myself who'd get the Roni first, Dr. Phil or Billie Eilish? my money's on Dr. Phil

http://coolaggregator.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/drphil1.jpg