Does Dr. Phil give good Advice?

1. 57

   my-success-guruposted 15 years ago

   Does he really give good advice? Well, I've personally tried a lot of Dr. Phils' advice and I can really say that although Dr. Phil might sound a little different with his Texan slang, and entertaining style, he really does offer good sound advice that really can improve the quality of your life if you apply it. Sometimes Dr. Phil's advice might seem like common sense but remember what sounds like common sense to you might not sound like common sense to someone else because we all have blind spots. Try this experiment.
   
   Did you know we all have blind spots? It's true - we do. Look at the diagram below to locate the blind spot in your right eye. Flip the scale and you'll find the blind spot for your left eye.
   
   Here's how: begin by focusing directly on the number 7 on the left end of the diagram. Now hold the book about six inches out in front of you. Next, close your left eye; continue focusing on the black question mark on the far right of the diagram in your right eye's peripheral vision. Now remain focused on the number 7 and gradually push the book away from you. At about fifteen inches away, you'll discover the black dot will vanish.
   
   -------------------------------------------------------?
   
   7 6 5 4 3 3 2 1

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   1. 72

      earnestshubposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      Nice experiment. Dr. Phil is an entertainer. As far as his advice is concerned, if you consider being publicly bullied and humiliated as therapy he may be good.
      Just another pop psych.

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         girly_girl09posted 15 years agoin reply to this

         I have always wondered about that! Do they pay so much that professionals actually want to go on the show with their wives to be exposed as a cheater or a liar? I remember one episode where a wife was understandably upset with her husband who had an affair.
         
         He went on there as well as his face and name! Wouldn't his patients at his practice see it and perhaps want to go to another doctor?
         
         Unbelievable. You couldn't pay me a million dollars to go through family therapy on a national tv show (although the ratings have dropped so much, maybe you wouldn't even be recognized)

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2. 57

   my-success-guruposted 15 years ago

   Hey Earnest and Girly Girl
   Hmmm makes you wonder if his marriage is really any better behind closed doors.

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   1. 72

      earnestshubposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      I would doubt Dr. Phil is capable of an intimate relationship, like many who love the limelight he appears too narcissisticaly cathected to cope with it.

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3. 57

   my-success-guruposted 15 years ago

   Yeah I think he could get pretty worked up when he's off camera but I don't know I'm not there. It would be interesting to be a fly I the wall.

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4. 0

   Ghost32posted 15 years ago

   I've got a psych education myself, though only a Bachelor's Degree rather than a PhD. (In the Army's basic training program, at least in 1964, if they noticed you had a B.S. Degree, they'd point out what B.S. stood for, and then add that "PhD" really stands for "Piled Higher and Deeper".)
   
   Phil McGraw does bully people; no doubt about that.  His Texas style doesn't throw me off as it surely does some, but perhaps that's because I'm basically an ol' cowboy from Montana.  But what I do giggle about every now and then is his "Hide The Stuff You Cain't Fix" approach, which is obviously utilized to keep the ratings from tanking--can't blame him for that, since it's a commercial setup from the git-go.
   
   One example popped up strongly on a show my wife and I watched just the other day.  We only get one channel of TV, due to the fact that we're on antenna in a remote area of Arizona.  Oddly enough, it's an NBC station but imports Dr. Phil rerun "classics".
   
   The episode to which I refer is one where a fat mother had super-fattened her four year old boy to an astounding 155 pounds.  She was a doozy, that lady, and also her Mom--neither woman could hear anything but her own mental defenses pounding around inside her skull.  She was obviously beyond help by a gazillion miles.
   
   In the final followup minutes, they talked about the fact that the boy had ballooned to around 180 pounds when his father went to court and gained custody.  By the time we saw the program, Daddy had apparently slimmed the kid down by a full 100 pounds.  (Don't know the time span.) 
   
   The "Hide The Stuff" part was this: NO followup mention was made regarding the clearly mentally ill mother and grandmother who had Porky Pigged the youngster in the first place.  Pam and I would not be surprised in the least to hear that, torn from the kid whose face they were stuffing, both of those Food Is Love ladies had committed suicide.  If they did, however, you can bet we won't hear about it directly from Dr. Phil.
   
   Though we might from the tabloids.

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5. 0

   wordscribe41posted 15 years ago

   Well, if you like the following advice, you're in luck:
   "No dog ever peed on a moving car."
   "Opinions are like as*es, everyone's got one."

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6. 0

   DarwinsLaureateposted 15 years ago

   Dr. Phil IMHO is a decent guy trying to help people.
   
   He should eat Dr. Laura sometime...the sooner, the better.
   
   But of course, nothing sells without drama.

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7. 61

   Pete Maidaposted 15 years ago

   Dr. Phil may have been good at one time; now he is just a TV person.  He has a staff that checks people out and they feed in information for spew out in front of the camera.
   The only TV expert I believed was Carl Sagan because he stayed on topic and he found ways of making real information understandable to the layman.

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8. 0

   pgrundyposted 15 years ago

   If the purpose of Dr. Phil's TV appearances was really to help and educate people he wouldn't be such a jerk about it. No one gets 'cured' of anything by being told to shape up and get a clue. If it was really that easy, we wouldn't even need mental health professionals.
   
   I think he kind of degrades and debases his guests and his profession--whether he lists that as 'entertainer' or 'psychologist.' He's kind of the Jerry Springer of pop psych, IMO.

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9. 61

   Jake Dukeposted 15 years ago

   Personally, always thought he was a fraud and a made for TV Guru by the big O. Before he became famous I read an article about him in people Magazine where he advised a wife to leave her husband because he constantly forgot important dates and did not buy gifts. I swear that's true. Years & years ago. Never liked him since.

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