Introduction To A Critical Review of Dr. Phil's Advice

Here was a most interesting show. Now you would think that if Dr. Phil was interested in helping couples learn how not to cheat he would interview cheating spouses to try and understand motive, reasons, etc. But is that what he does?

Of course not. He mainly interviews the "other woman" who go out with married men. He does have one couple where the husband cheated on the wife but he just points that out while continuing on with the accusations of the other women.

If he really wanted to help with cheating he would have interviewed couples where this occurred and would try and find out the reasons for the behavior and how to correct the behavior. Hey, the show was entertaining.

Dr. Phil even says the woman is wrong for saying that the man is cheating because he is unhappy in his relationship. Of course Dr. Phil doesn’t explain his rationale. His rationale in this show is to show how wrong it is for the other woman to sleep with the married man. But doesn’t the discontent begin in the relationship? Not if you listen to Dr. Phil.

Dr. Phil then questions a married couple where the man has had an affair. The wife does state that the affair happened because the communication broke down in the relationship. The husband takes full responsibility for the affair even though the woman also says she had something to do with the affair. What is Dr. Phil’s advice? He says the couple should start communicating. Does he help the couple learn how to communicate? He doesn’t mention one word.

And when it comes to healing the couple when one has the affair what is his advice? Isn’t it for the one who was cheated on to forgive the other? No, he advocates that the one who was cheated on to be angry with the other. Does the person who was cheated on feel angry? Of course he or she does. But Dr. Phil is supposed to be the expert who is supposed to help the couple overcome the problem instead of finding fault with the one who made the mistake.

Dr. Phil then interviews a woman who has had an affair with a married man for eight years. Again, Dr. Phil doesn’t mention that the affair was caused because the married relationship was an unhappy one but instead he blames the woman for having the affair. He comments that the woman in the affair with a married man is being played for a fool. He does recommend that the woman get out of the affair, in one of the only really helpful comments he makes.

Now if Dr. Phil really wanted to address the issue of cheating spouses why doesn’t he concentrate on couples who have gone through the experience of cheating? Wouldn’t it make sense for him to help couples who have dealt with cheating? Common sense might say that would be the case but unfortunately Dr. Phil doesn’t address how to help couples in troubled relationships. Instead he interviews the other woman. Of course it is a lot easier just to blame the other person.

Dr. Phil’s conclusion? Well, the person who cheated is at fault. Unfortunately for Dr. Phil people cheat because the relationship is unhappy regardless of which individual is unhappy. If he truly wanted to help his “patients” then he would help the couple figure out how to be happy together. Amazingly, he doesn’t really spend any time with couples.