The Rational Basis® of Happiness Podcast

The Selfish Path to Romance. Download chapter one for free at DrKenner.com.

Here's a question I received, a very sad question. Good afternoon, dear Dr. Kenner. Would you tell us your opinion of the following? Does the following statement constitute the practice of psychology or not? Or could you describe someone exercising and practicing psychology if they have this description?

So, here's the job description. My job is doing—listen to this word—psychotherapy with adults and children starting from age three to adult. I provide services of—here's the second word—counseling and do referrals for medication evaluation depending on symptoms presented by the person served.

Now, does that sound like you're bringing your child or that you're going yourself to a psychologist or somebody who's licensed, who's had a lot of experience under their belt? So let me continue with the question. That's just my questions on the side there. The reason we asked this is that this person advertising this has already been prosecuted and has been found guilty and has also paid a fine for illegally posing as an unlicensed psychologist and for possessing an illegal and invalid PhD from a non-accredited school, and for previously illegally diagnosing mental health patients without having the proper credentials. She is now working for another mental health institution using the above statement when referring to her current job status and employment.

Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. Respectfully, a pair of grieving parents of our late child who was legally misdiagnosed prior to her ultimately untimely passing by the above individual in question.

So it is very, very sad. That hit me hard. It's very, very sad to hear of your loss and to think that the outcome could have been quite different if your child had seen a very talented, very skilled professional.

So, one, you can do a couple of things. I'll give you information on the different levels and different degrees and what goes on with those two words, psychotherapy and counseling. But first, nothing is going to take away the pain of losing your child. You definitely should get some professional help for both of you. I'm assuming you're both getting professional help. If you're not, get it for yourselves. You want to be able to go through the grief and not hold it in over the years. You need to be able to process it, and part of processing it, I'm assuming, is that you want justice. You want to know that this person who treated your child, who's no longer with you and who has a legal record, you're worried that this person will slip under the radar and practice as she had before.

And I also assume you don't want others to be harmed by her alleged misrepresentation of being a professional. So what goes on with how she presented herself? Is it legal or not to present herself that way?

And here's the piece of information that's a little bit bone-chilling. Both those terms, psychotherapy and counseling, you can check your own state, but those are terms that are not licensed. As far as I know, I know that in Rhode Island, we were looking to license. When I say the Rhode Island Psychological Association was looking to get credentialing for that, where it's bona fide license means it's licensed by the state. I wish everything were credentialed, meaning your top professionals were deciding—not some bureaucrat—but your top professionals were deciding who got the good housekeeping seal of approval.

So here's what you can do.

Hey, I got to interrupt this because we've got to pay some bills. 30 seconds, that's it. A very quick ad, and then Alan will be back.

Romance. I wish I knew more about what girls want from a relationship. Well, I wish I knew more about what I want. Where's that ad I saw? Here it is: The Selfish Path to Romance, a serious romance guidebook. Download chapter one for free at selfishromance.com and buy it at amazon.com. Huh? The Selfish Path to Romance. That is interesting.

Who got the good housekeeping seal of approval? So here's what you can do. Those two titles—she may not be misrepresenting herself. Now, you certainly can contact your psychological association in your state and let them know your experience and let them know who she is, because maybe she is still presenting or misrepresenting herself. I mean, even though she's only saying she's a therapist or a counselor here, maybe at other times, she's still doing what she got penalized for. So you could certainly alert them.

You can get more information too, specific information on your state by going to a website: allpsychologistscareers.com. You can actually look up your state.

So let me just go over the levels. People ask many times, you know, what the heck is the difference between a counselor, a therapist, a psychologist, and a psychiatrist? So there are doctoral level licenses—that's going to be one of your higher levels. And you have people that have a PhD after their name, a PsyD, or an education degree. But it's called a PsyD. It's not just a degree in psychology; it's not an undergraduate degree.

These people complete a master's level, and then they go on to get their PhD level. They go for internships, they go for national exams, they go for oral exams on ethics before state boards, and then they again get more training under the supervision of a psychologist or a professional licensed in the state, and then they go on to get their own license.

So it is a long haul, I can tell you that firsthand. And then you have psychiatrists. They are actually medical doctors who have an additional three-year residency program in psychiatric medicine. They can do both therapy and, more often, prescribe medication nowadays.

Then you have a whole bunch of master's level licensed professionals. You have advanced nurses, nurse practitioners, you have licensed psychological associates, licensed professional counselors. Then you probably might have heard of these: LCSW, licensed clinical social workers, licensed marriage and family therapists, and those are all licensed.

Then you have many that are not licensed. And we all know of watching tellers, and many religious folks are not licensed. You've got palm readers; you've got actually acute herbalists, and those are not licensed—at least not by the state.

For more Dr. Kenner podcasts, go to DrKenner.com.

And please listen to this. Here's an excerpt from The Selfish Path to Romance by Dr. Ellen Kenner.

Here's an example of how gender differences can cause conflict. Andres was a good provider and loved surprising Cara with special gifts, but she felt lonely and invisible. On the deepest level, he was unaware of her most profound values and feelings. He was of no comfort when she had a fight with her mother or had a bad day with her cranky boss. She wanted Andres to listen and commiserate with her.

She would relate bad experiences not with the intent of getting his advice but to feel understood. But Andres would launch into telling her precisely what to say and do. He wanted to fix everything. How would they address this common pattern in relationships? Power would need to be clear about what she needs, and Andres could learn how to be a sympathetic listener.

You can download chapter one for free at DrKenner.com, and you can buy the book at Amazon.com.