Popular teletherapist1 Dr. Phil has announced that troubled performer Britney Spears “is a suicide risk,”2 and that she may need to “be involuntarily committed.”3 While reports of the doctor’s statements were still being looked into several questions were raised at TheNewsBeats, and no doubt in newsrooms across the country. For instance, did Spears seek treatment form the good doctor, obtain his professional advice and warnings, and then broadcast her confidentially obtained prognosis? Was Dr. Phil contacted privately by an agent of the principal, and had an opinion wrenched from him, and then that agent leaked it to the public?
As the details of story soon became known, in all questions the answer was negative. Dr. Phil took it upon himself to examine Spears in absentia and air his professional diagnosis publicly to millions over his television show. Even seasoned reporters were aghast, and immediately other questions were being asked. All of them had more or less the same starting point. What if Spears sees his television show, or reads the doctor’s diagnosis in the media, as she most certainly will, could the strong words from the famous doctor carry strong suggestive power as well?
Here is where the sham in giving these talkingheads the title of “Doctor” temporally causes a neon-outage everywhere else in the world by hi-lighting itself. Such reckless diagnoses in the real medical profession are subject to hefty medical malpractice suits. Yet, the people claiming to be experts in the intricacies of human behavior and thinking, always tempted to fortify their claim of scientific foundation by displaying an assertion with predictive value, can make what might be the most destructive comments possible with impunity.
It is usually irresponsible for any public figure to make such comments even casually, but for one who holds himself out as certified in human behavior, and in the accurate diagnosis and cure of psychological disorders, it is reprehensible.
Perhaps the doctor himself suffers from some serious disorder which would explain such a server cognitive lapse. Maybe a new term could be coined like vaingloriousitis; where bloviating blowhards shamelessly promote themselves. Symptoms may include making scandalous statements form a deep seated desire to increase television ratings. In severe cases the subject may become maniacal and seek to manipulate outcomes of an extra-sensational character, or that are harmful or even tragic.
A person suffering from this disorder might easily make thinly guised predictions over a troubled starlet in order to claim the implied credentials should events transpire as he surmises, or he might contrive a public statement as a covert invitation for treatment of a famous personality, also increasing his own prestige were it accepted.
It is that wicked of a world. It is a place where an industry that builds a person up will tear them down even faster to use them as fertilizer for someone else’s career. It is a place where the best help touted is a highly-paid conversation that might get a person to keep a neat garden for their short walk down here without disturbing others too much so that they can quietly go to hell.
That’s the tall glass of it. The only thing that changes is the mixtures and the doses, and the ones who dispense it.
As for the starlets, the stalwarts, the stumbling, and the stranded; there is a way for you to shine forth as bright as the sun in the Kingdom of your Father. Jesus will give to all those who ask of him Living Water that will become a well inside springing up into everlasting life (John 4:11-14). You need only ask; there are no fees: the price has already been paid in full.
Notes:
1. Teletherapists – a neologism of TheNewsBeats.com; a) used to describe psychologists who use television to communicate the theories and methods of psychotherapy, b) and or practice those methods on others or themselves.
2. Don Kaplan, “Dr. Phil: Britney Spears Is Suicide Risk, May Need to Be Committed,” NYPost.com, October 05, 2007.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,299583,00.html
3. Ibid.
This is a News Service of TheNewsBeats.com, All Rights Reserved
All he cares about are ratings. That has become evident this season with his high profile and sensationalized episodes. I guess he needs a new multi-million dollar mansion. BUT, he forgets who pays for his lifestyle. I was an avid viewer. But no more. I have a legitimate crisis in my family and e-mailed him for advise. I received no reply at all. Wait, I take that back he did send me an e-mail today telling me to make sure to watch his next show on some convicted child preditor. Now I turn on Larry King and he talking about the same case right now. He’s no better than an informurcial, he’s selling crap to an unwary public.
Dear Cathy,
I wanted to get back to you and thank you for taking the time to comment, and express my joy at your understanding being opened to learn the truth about Teletherapists. It is my prayer that what the enemy has intended for your trouble has been turned to your good by causing you to find help in the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet, even Christians are going to have trouble
There several reasons for our having trouble (and trouble comes in marriage, careers, and of course in people); we act or make decisions out of God’s will for our life, our enemy the Devil comes against us, or we are tired for the purpose of purifying. This is why we must stay in His word; our warefare is not carnal, it is spiritual, and our victory comes, in part, by maintaining our spiritual perspective. These few scriptures sum up so much in so few words towards edification, and with ever lasting victory on the horizon:
1Pe 1:3-9 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, (4) To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, (5) Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (6) Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: (7) That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: (8) Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: (9) Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
May God richly bless you with all that you need to overcome through His Son Jesus, and may his peace and grace be on you as you seek his face and follow Him in the faith. I want you to know that you may email me any time with any questions you have. It would be my blessing to be a small part in God’s victory for you,
David
I think it’s only a matter of time before Britney runs over a photographer and kills ‘em. What happened to that sweet old Britney we used to know and love?
This is humor correct? I entirely believe in a God with a sense of humor and I think even He finds this worth a laugh. Dr. Phil, holding a PhD in clinical psychology, is more than qualified to give his opinion of Ms. Spears’ condition. And the only people who would be able to say otherwise (legally or not) would be those trained in his field and I see none of those signed here. He is also a Christian and would probably agree that he did not go as far as this writer in his handling of Ms. Spears. David Dansker is suddenly a practioner of Christ and prescribing Bible verses to heal people. God does want us to function from day to day with common sense. Thereapists, if needed, do not violate any aspect of the Bible, just a closed mind that (if one digs deep enough) is hiding something that he or she wants no one to know. It will be okay though. God knows.
TyinQuarter,
You have raised a few points. While time will not permit me to respond to all of them, I would like to address one. I would like to encourage you to think more highly of yourself. If a charge of medical malpractice were to be brought to trial, there is no doubt that expert testimony would be supplied by both the prosecution and the defense. These experts would have those initials behind their names, like the ones you have so much respect and admiration for, and they would be accepted by the court to testify as to their expert opinion on the matter before them. There is also no doubt that the testimony of these same expert witnesses would exactly contradict each other. Fortunately for the defendant (or unfortunately, depending on the weight of the evidence), the verdict will not be decided by the experts, but by twelve men and women know as the jury. Now, there are a few reasons why potential jurors are turned away during the jury selection process, but none are disqualified for the sole reason of lacking initials as an addendum to their name. The twelve men and women who will finally decide on the veracity of the experts will be men and women just like your self.