Re: Not-A-Dr. Laura

[mwaters@wesleyan.edu (Martin J. Waters)]

        Bill Piacentini has provided a more detailed resume for Laura
Schlesinger than I had seen before, and it shows that she did have
experience in counseling before becoming a radio personality. But, I agree
with those who say that calling herself "doctor" is a bogus and misleading
maneuver. Her Ph.D. is in physiology -- nothing to do with psychiatry or
counseling. So, she is not an M.D. (and that's what 99 percent of the
public thinks you are if you call yourself doctor). And her Ph.D. is not in
a field that has anything to do with
the way she presents herself as a counselor.  So, while technically she can
get away with the pompous (as it is with all academics who have Ph.D's)
title of "doctor," it is extremely misleading in this context. We can
speculate about whether she does it with the intention to deceive, but I'm
not sure that even matters. I'm more interested in the audience's point of
view.
        For me, a much larger issue has to do with the fact that apparently
thousands of poor souls jam the phone lines actually hoping that she will
help them with actual real-life, and in some cases very serious, problems,
instead of getting real counseling. She never seems to recommend that
anyone actually get any real counseling, although that's what she used to
do as a career. The managed care assholes whose mission in life is to
prevent anyone from getting meaningful mental health services ("here, take
a pill"), must love her.
        Are these listeners calling her because they can't get any real
help through their medical insurance? Or because they have no medical
insurance? Or because they feel more comfortable talking anonymously over
the phone? Or because real mental health care has such a stigma that they
don't want to go to it? Or, worst possible case, because they actually
think they will get better help from Not-a-Dr. Loudmouth in five minutes
than from an actual counselor providing actual counseling? IMO, these
listeners would get more help from flipping the dial and listening to Paula
Cole, or almost any music, for that matter.

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