masters-level therapist misrepresenting herself as a Ph.D.

[loveoforganic]

Thanks for the info

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[slinger]

Sounds like this woman is acting very unethical. In my mind, if you earn a PhD in Medieval History/Literature/Psychology, you earn the right to advertise your name as PhD soandso. In terms of private practice and doing therapy, if the PhD is not associated with the field of private practice, it should not be advertised with the business as this would be considered a deceptive act.

Then again, I live in Kansas. Pretty much the toughest state on behavioral sciences regulations. Odd that it is right next to Colorado.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

Sounds like this woman is acting very unethical. In my mind, if you earn a PhD in Medieval History/Literature/Psychology, you earn the right to advertise your name as PhD soandso. In terms of private practice and doing therapy, if the PhD is not associated with the field of private practice, it should not be advertised with the business as this would be considered a deceptive act.

Then again, I live in Kansas. Pretty much the toughest state on behavioral sciences regulations. Odd that it is right next to Colorado.

I definitely agree. Anyone who has earned a Ph.D. has of course earned the right to be called "doctor" if they so choose; however, were you (as you've said) advertising therapy/speaking in a therapy context, or walking around a hospital, to go around insisting that others call you "doctor" could be very misleading, especially if you were delivering any type of service in those contexts.

 

[DrGero]

I definitely agree. Anyone who has earned a Ph.D. has of course earned the right to be called "doctor" if they so choose; however, were you (as you've said) advertising therapy/speaking in a therapy context, or walking around a hospital, to go around insisting that others call you "doctor" could be very misleading, especially if you were delivering any type of service in those contexts.

My position is if you're advertising your mental health practice, and you advertise a degree that happens to be in a field which is either not relevant to mental health practice OR it's a degree for which there is no associated licensed, professional practice status, then it would be fraudulent and unethical to do so.

So, even if this woman had earned a Ph.D. in psychology, if she wasn't licensed to practice as a clinical psychologist, I would personally think it's unethical to put it in her psychotherapy adverts, particularly without explaining what the doctorate is in (misleading).

It merely makes it worse that the woman I posted about here apparently never actually earned a doctorate - but my position probably wouldn't change that much even if she had, given the circumstances.

 

[slinger]

My position is if you're advertising your mental health practice, and you advertise a degree that happens to be in a field which is either not relevant to mental health practice OR it's a degree for which there is no associated licensed, professional practice status, then it would be fraudulent and unethical to do so.

So, even if this woman had earned a Ph.D. in psychology, if she wasn't licensed to practice as a clinical psychologist, I would personally think it's unethical to put it in her psychotherapy adverts, particularly without explaining what the doctorate is in (misleading).

It merely makes it worse that the woman I posted about here apparently never actually earned a doctorate - but my position probably wouldn't change that much even if she had, given the circumstances.

The NASW (National Association of Social Workers) Code of Ethics is consistent with this philosophy of deceptive practice as well. For the most part, this particular practitioner probably knows that she is doing wrong.

 

[FadedC]

If she is a quack then, the real complaint would be about the therapy she is providing, and not just about her misrepresenting herself and her education. If that's the case, then I would imagine that her providing detrimental treatment to clients would be the biggest complaint, and that the OP's complaints to various authorities would be taken more seriously.

Trying to prove that someone is providing detrimental treatment to their clients is almost impossible. Even in the case where someone is performing a form of therapy that has been found to cause harmful effects in the past and which is cautioned against by the APA, such a primal therapist focusing on "recovering" repressed traumatic memories from infancy, there is still no real action that is ever likely to be taken against them unless one of their patients kills themself or something.

 

[SomedayClinPhD]

I'd point out that according to the APA ethical code (2002), a psychologist can't misrepresent their qualifications. That is clearly what is going on here. Also, section 2 of the code refers to competence, it seems as if this person is practicing outside their realm of competence.

 

[carolinablue]

d

 

[YorkUgrad]

p