Talking Back to Dr. Phil: Alternatives to Mainstream Psychology

Teacher, counselor, attorney, and organizational consultant Bedrick provides alternative approaches to mainstream psychology, using television personality Dr. Phil as a paradigm for all that is wrong with conventional methods. Bedrick advocates instead for a %E2%80%9Clove-based psychology,%E2%80%9D which %E2%80%9Cviews people, including their disturbing feelings and behaviors, as a reflection of nature%E2%80%99s diversity.%E2%80%9D This approach garners methods from many disciplines including process-oriented psychology, quantum physics, and Zen Buddhism. Bedrick explicates major topics in psychology including dieting, addiction, relationships, and gender roles. For each topic Bedrick uses an episode of Dr. Phil as an example and then demonstrates how his own methods would better resolve the situation. While Bedrick makes some salient points about the pitfalls of taking advice from the likes of Dr. Phil, his own anecdotes can be less convincing. The book is also rigidly structured around episodes of Dr. Phil%E2%80%94which proves initially a good gimmick, but eventually grows tiresome. Surely alternatives to the likes of Dr. Phil are needed, and some aspects of Bedrick%E2%80%99s love-based psychology are indeed appealing.