Celebrity Doctors: Miraculous Ability to Diagnose in Abstentia

I saw this article today that made me both laugh and shake my head in disgust – the topic was Dr. Drew Pinsky diagnosing Sandra Bullock with ” love addiction.” Here’s the link:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/04/29/earlyshow/leisure/celebspot/main6443548.shtml

My first reaction was to roll my eyes. I mean, does anyone seriously consider Dr. Drew credible these days? This guy is diagnosing people right and left – people he’s never met. It’s unprofessional at best. I think media attention and “celebrity” tend to make people like Dr. Drew a little arrogant.  They think every time a celebrity has a problem, ME to the rescue to diagnose the “disease.”  The problem with these celebrity doctors is that they quickly become so enamored with their fame, they forget how to practice their profession with dignity. Ethical relativism becomes the norm.

Some might say it’s just amusing, but I wonder if these celebrity addiction docs don’t do more harm than good when it comes to educating the public about the powerful, deadly disease of addiction.  Shows like Intervention gives a totally false impression of how interventions work – can you imagine how many idiots are running around doing “interventions” now with no clue as to how to really do it right?  By throwing out love addiction, sex addiction, this addition, that addiction without any thoughtful examination, interview, testing…without ANYthing but a tabloid story…don’t we start to send the message that addiction is just a name we slap onto any situation that turns out badly?   In other words, is sex addiction merely now the label for anyone who gets caught being a cheating pig?   It threatens the progress in researching and treating truly devastating process addictions by making them a big celebrity joke.

No respectable, reputable doctor diagnoses folks without thoroughly examining them, testing them etc. My father was a medical doctor, and I can tell you, he would not under any circumstances diagnose someone without an exam.  You couldn’t call him on the phone and say, “What I got?”

I think the fact that Dr. Drew thinks it is acceptable to broadcast his opinion this way shows how celebrity can utterly corrupt a person – integrity takes a back seat to grabbing the spotlight.

My favorite bit here? When he’s talking about Jesse James he reportedly explains how if the person goes to be treated for sex addiction, they must have sex addiction (like that circular logic?):

“Pinsky reminded viewers that, if someone is admitted to one of these programs, he or she must meet the criteria for a particular diagnosis, such as sex addiction, or a hospital will lose its accreditation.”

Is he from another planet? What criteria?  It’s not even in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual yet, and lots of people have been treated for sex addiction.  This is completely made up!  It would be hilarious if it wasn’t so scary that this guy is being touted as an expert to the public. And frankly, most of these programs are private-pay therapeutic programs,  not hospitals, and they only have to comply with state regulations, which are really pretty basic when it comes to non-medical models of addiction treatment.

Back to Sandra Bullock. She likely just made the age-old mistake so many women make at some point in their lives. She trusted a jackass.  Love addiction?  Give me a break.