Woman found guilty of posing as a psychologist

A few things to remember here. First, a drug is defined as any mind-altering substance. Chocolate (and the sugar contained therein) are definitely mind-altering substances. Just ask anyone who has ever had young children. Certainly sugar (and probably chocolate, too) would be classed as an "upper" in street lingo. Second, chocolate stimulates the same area of the brain as sex. Darn, no wonder I always buy one or two of them bags of halloween-sized candies on my weekly trips to the grocery!

 

According to britannica, drugs affect organisms. This could be interpreted as both mind and body. Could we expand the interpretation of the definition of drugs to include the spiritual dimension?

http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9106187/drug

Drugs as body and mind altering substances.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/07/060727154900.htm

Initially, I regretted feeding my infant fruits instead of milk. It does keep her up longer than usual at night. However, that changes when I hear giggles and glee. I guess sweets do have a mental and physical affect on living systems.

 

Yes, exactly

Yes, that is exactly what I'm saying.

Actually, they never offered a degree in forensic psychology. Rather, one in the clinical program could "minor" in Addictions, Geriatrics, Forensic, or Clinical Supervision. Although these offerings were very popular, as Capella was tooling up for APA accreditation, they decided to shift to a PsyD and focus on the core programs: clinical and counseling.

 

Hi Ted - I don't know if you're joking or not but, assuming that you're not, I have to tell you that you're statement above is incorrect. That is not the definition of a "drug." There are plenty of drugs (medications) out there that have no effect on one's mind. Analgesics? Antibiotics? The list goes on. I apologize if your sense of humor has eluded me.

 

I have no idea, but she was using the title psychologist in her business and counseling practices.

EDIT: Wightman never held a mental health counseling license in Massachusetts.

 

Yeah, I'm not saying she wasn't doing anything wrong, I'm just wondering out loud how such an educated woman could have failed to consider appropriate licensure options. It's not like she was just some high school drop-out who was too uneducated to realize that talking to guys about their woman problems in the course of her job as a showgirl does not make one a psychologist.

 

The world may never know!

 

You're wrong. We all know now.

 

-Side effects of Antibiotics include, " Nausea, Nervousness, Tremors, Seizures, Confusion, ...ect " (http://www.merck.com/mmhe/sec17/ch192/ch192a.html?qt=antibiotic&alt=sh)

- Side effects of Analgesics include, " confusion, anxiety, ... ect " ( (http://www.merck.com/mmhe/sec06/ch078/ch078d.html#sec06-ch078-ch078d-143 )

Even placebos have an affect on the human mind. Placebos are used for
experimental research in psychology and medicine. http://www.odemagazine.com/article.php?aID=4294


The definition of drugs is broadly defined. According to wikipedia, "
"A drug is any chemical or biological substance, synthetic or non-synthetic, that when taken into the organism's body, will in some way alter the functions of that organism. This broad definition can be taken to include such substances as food. However more strict applications of the word prevail in everyday life. In these cases the word "drug" is usually used to refer specifically to medicine, vitamins, entheogenic sacraments, consciousness expanding or recreational drugs. Many natural substances such as beers, wines, and some mushrooms, blur the line between food and drugs, as when ingested they affect the functioning of both mind and body."

Plenty of drugs, no drugs, all drugs affect the human mind? My hypothesis
is that all drugs have a psychological, economical, environmental, social, and biological affect on human beings. Who is correct? I say no one. There is continuing psychiatric, medical, pharmacological, and psychological research that is expanding knowledge about the effects of drugs on the mind and body. For example, (http://www.nida.nih.gov/NIDA_notes/NNVol10N6/ARCClin.html).

Interesting topic. For me anyway.

 

Given that she graduated from Leslie College as recently as 1996, I'd say she probably just needed a couple of years of supervised experience to sit for the Licensed Mental Health Counselor exam. I have worked with licensed counselors who were in that program at Leslie.

 

21 U.S.C. § 321(g)(1)....

(g)
(1) The term “drug” means

(A) articles recognized in the official United States Pharmacopoeia, official Homoeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States, or official National Formulary, or any supplement to any of them; and

(B) articles intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease in man or other animals; and

(C) articles (other than food) intended to affect the structure or any function of the body of man or other animals; .......

 

The information quoted above is from the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of the US Food and Drug Administration. http://www.fda.gov/opacom/laws/fdcact/fdcact1.htm

I think that the classification of drugs and foods may vary from country to country. "Therefore, even if a product is sold as a food product overseas, depending on the dosage form or ingredient, for example, the product may be considered a drug in Japan. In other words, for a dietary supplement product to be allowed into Japan as a food product, all the food product raw materials, food product additives, etc., must be permitted for use in food products in Japan" (http://www5.cao.go.jp/otodb/english/mondai/subject/199600201.html).

 

A number of Psychiatrists attend psychotherapy training institutes to bolster the training they recieved during their psychiatric residencies.

 

There are Psychiatrists with excellent, good, fair, mediocre and harmful (ie, iatrogenic) psychotherapeutic skill levels just as there are from other professionals in such mental health disciplines as Psychology, Counseling, Social Work and Psychiatric Nursing.

However, the fact is that no matter who is doing the therapy there is alot of psychotheraptic interventions that are questionable in terms of efficacy in bringing about change or modification in clients' presenting psychological/psychiatric problems.

 

Still, psychiatrists are basically trained to keep people drugged up.

 

Teddy, your statement above has no relationship to the point I made!

However, in regard to your generalization above, the fact is that there are many people with myriad psychiatric problems who would not be able to function in their daily lives without the assistance of psychotropic medication or be amenable to psychotherapeutic interventions.

 

I never said that being drugged up on a bunch of crazy meds was a bad thing; I was merely pointing out that, if one needs a mental health professional, counselors and psychologists are better at talking about your problems (though a psychiatrist could do that, too), whereas a psychiatrist would be what you're looking for if you need to have some crazy meds scripted (with the qualifier that, in certain states, a psychologist with a master's in psychopharmacology could do that for you).

 

I disagree! Psychiatrists who obtain advanced training in psychotherapy are extremely competent in providing "talking" therapy and are as skilled if not more so than other mental health professionals.

 

Most of them, however, still want to get you out of there in 15 minutes because they make more on for 15-min. med consults than in one 1-hr. "talk therapy" session. A psychiatrist's whole point in getting you to talk is not so much to listen as to see how manic (or depressed) you are today so he can re-adjust your meds.

 

make that four 15-min. med consults