Dr. Phil changes name of show but offers no apology

I really try to be optimistic, find the bright side of things, but I am having a really difficult time accepting this blog entry published today by Dr. Phil.

If you didn’t know, last week he aired an episode titled “From Heroes to Monsters?” and all hell broke loose in the military community. Just the title of the show alone was enough to cause outrage.

Aside from addressing the disgust of the military community over the name of the episode, I went further into detail on my blog and on Fox News Radio about the source of his information, Dr. Frank Lawlis, and outlined how the content and advice in his book was not only offensive, but borderline dangerous.

This is what Dr. Phil had to say, noting the episode is now titled “Heroes in Pain” because of the overwhelming response from the military community.

Some viewers expressed concern, and even disappointment, with the show’s original title, “Heroes to Monsters?” Our intent was to acknowledge the question so often cited in the media, not to make a statement, and to emphasize the severity of the pain and suffering our guests say they experience. In doing so, we unintentionally offended some of our viewers, and have therefore changed the title to more accurately reflect the show’s content.

I dare say we were more than concerned and more than disappointed.  We were PISSED.  Thanks for downplaying our reaction on your blog, Mr. Phil.

Some of us are still pissed.  Who?  Oh, well, you know…let’s start with people like ME who live this PTSD life every single day.

If you don’t know anything about me, you should at least know this:  it doesn’t take much to make me happy.  It takes a lot to piss me off.

So why am I still pissed?

Unfortunately, he chose not to apologize anywhere in his blog post, nor did he offer to explain himself on the very same platform he used to incorrectly portray our military with PTSD:  on national TV.

Changing the name of the show is a good start, but an apology would hold more weight in our minds, and doing it on TV would be the professional and responsible thing to do.

And, even more importantly, he’s still pimping out that awful book and proclaiming Dr. Lawlis as a top expert in the field of PTSD.  He went on to justify the show by saying:

And we brought in the best of the best to help shed light on treatments, including Dr. Frank Lawlis, one of the leading PTSD experts in the world. I encourage you to check out his book, The PTSD Breakthrough, and download — for free — his PTSD program, Retraining Your Thoughts, by clicking here.  (link removed by Torrey) Both provide valuable information to help you understand how the brain works, its anatomy and how it can be fixed after a traumatic event that leads to PTSD.

If he were such an expert, he’d know that PTSD can’t be ‘fixed’ – you can only learn to deal with it, cope with it and accept it. You can’t use gum before bedtime, blue light bulbs in your lamp, powerful mouthwashes, nor participate in acts like beating drums to find your ‘power song’ or even go on a vision quest (alone in the wilderness with nothing but water for 7 days until a symbol appears in your consciousness) to FIX post traumatic stress disorder.

And, oh, by the way Dr. Phil and Dr. Lawlis — combat veterans weren’t getting PTSD from just “a” traumatic event.  They got it from sustained and prolonged exposure to traumatic events.  They got it from just doing their jobs!  Maybe this article published today in the LA Times will explain how PTSD in combat veterans is considered much different than that of a civilian who encountered a traumatic event.  Even the Army (who is notorious for brushing PTSD under the rug) knows and admits to this.

The article states:

Traditional definitions of post-traumatic stress disorder may not fit in the case of a trained warrior, a new policy document states.

In fact, here’s the expert we really need to be listening to, as quoted in the LA Times article:

Charles Hoge of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, who for seven years oversaw the institute’s research on the psychological consequences of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, said the document reflected work already underway by a committee of the American Psychiatric Assn. to refine the standards for treating PTSD based on an abundance of new research.

While Dr. Lawlis was writing and making a profit from a self-proclaimed “science-based” book that had little to no real science in it, much less quote any actual research, Charles Hoge was on the front lines at Walter Reed working with the American Psychiatric Assn. and using an abundance of research we can rely on, all for the betterment of our military community.

I am not pleased.  And yes, I am still pissed.  Maybe my blog post today has shown you why.

Here’s my final assessment:

Dr. Phil is not going to get rid of Dr. Lawlis as his ‘expert adviser’ and replace him with someone more qualified — because there are sales to be made with multiple products, regardless of the potential harm it will have on the very people he claims to care so much about.

How easy would it have been for him to just apologize?  He spent way more time dancing around the apology, justifying his reasons, then closing the sale for the book than to say three simple words:  “I am sorry.”

This tells me he doesn’t think we are even worth those three simple words.

Dr. Phil is not going to apologize.  If he was, he would have done it already.

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