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I've tuned into Dr. Phil for a few shows here and there. I rarely ever watch the show. Two days ago he interviewed twin sisters who we were told, agreed to come on his show by the prompt of their other sister who is miss princess perfect does not seem to have any problems with drugs or depression on the surface. Though she did, along with her sisters exhibit speech impediments.

Now I really don't know the real truth behind the whole Dr. Phil/Britney scandal, and neither do you; but for the most part, I enjoyed watching the Dr. Phil show whenever I tuned in, until the Dr. Phil house and all that crap started. But every now and then I flip over to his show.

The first episode of his 2-part show aired Feb. 6, made me feel angry, but it was one of those things where I kept watching because I was waiting to hear from Dr. Phil that he acknowledged the sisters' depression, and other circumstances that were playing into the reasons these women became so interested in their prescription drugs in the first place.

Before I go on, I am in no way indicating that everyone who has an alcohol or other drug problem surely has some other disorder to start, because that is not always the case. I am not saying that is the case; so don't quote me on this or become enraged with me if one you know and love, is managing an addiction and you know for certain he/she never suffered with depression or other kinds of mental illness before his/her addictive behaviors kicked in.

I don't know if Dr. Phil really did let his license to practice psychology and counseling lapse, as the media has suggested. I do know that he wouldn't need to have such a license to continue his television talk show, for entertainment purposes only.

As I watched and listened to the women speak on the first day, it became obvious to me, a mere lay-person, that these women exhibited many more problems than the fact that they were addicted to prescription drugs. Dysfunctional family life is an understatement for them; and there were other issues beyond that I couldn't help noticing. I did not hear Phil even consider the possibilities of other issues in the lives of the twin sisters when he came down so hard on them about the use of drugs, while the princess sister who brought them to the show looked on with a stupid stare. One of the two women sat curled up in a fetal position on the couch next to her twin, refusing to face the audience. I mean, how much money would someone be willing to receive for acting this way on national television, if that were the case? 

Yesterday was the second and final day of this 2-part exploitation. Phil came down even harder on the women when their formerly drug-addicted father mentioned the possibility that in his opinion, at least one of the twins exhibited symptoms of bi-polar disorder.

If in fact anything on the show was true, Dr. Phil was correct in saying that bi-polar disorder is not be an excuse for these drug-addicted women to stay in the tough lifestyle they are in; especially because children are involved, and the children should never, ever, grow up in the environment they are being subjected to daily. But if Phil or anyone else fails to look at all the reasons these two pathetic women ended up on his show, which made for miserable entertainment to any of us who were seeking to be entertained, then he's as dumb as he is tall. If he thought they even heeded to his stern ridiculous lectures to them, he's a fool.

Britney Spears has taken up more of the media's time and attention than she ever imagined she could, I believe. Her parents are just now stepping in to say they are so terribly concered about her. Where the f*** have they been all this time? Definitely not there enough to intervene back when intervention might have helped young Britney to know things didn't have to go quite this far!

I hear Oprah is supposed to be on Monday's Dr. Phil show, to help celebrate his 1,000th show on his stage; and to clear up any confusion about all the rumors floating around in the tabloid magazines, and on the late afternoon tabloid shows. Whatever...

I will tell you this. Make no mistake that those suffering with drug addictions and alcoholism know they are suffering, and not one person suffering doesn't wish things could be different. Lectures don't work! People who suffer with manic-depression and other mental health disorders know deep inside where things count for something, that they are suffering, and not one person would tell you that they enjoy feeling so damned depressed! They'd do anything, anything to feel better! I am not a drug addict and I am not an alcoholic; though I could have easily become either, and frankly don't know how I missed it. But, I do suffer with bi-polar type II which is a fancy term for manic-depression with emphasis on the depressive end of things. I am here to tell you, it is not always creative, and is never easy. I am a person who takes responsibility for myself and my health, but not because of lectures I ever received in the past from anyone who told me how horribly I was behaving, and to grow up!

Human beings respond to respect and compassion. We respond to love; sometimes it has to be tough love, but that is real love all the same. And, tough love does not include demoralizing lectures given by self-righteous, entertaininment talk show hosts. The show hit a nerve with me, not because I have a depressive disorder, but because I have a biological father who did this to me when I was too young to stand up to him. He didn't even raise me. Who was he to lecture me on anything? There were others as well, who thought that by telling me how selfish I was, or how much I needed to be responsible, they were helping me. Not! Responsibility comes through much living and soul-searching, and wanting; not from people who stand over you and tell you what you need to be about doing for yourself and others.

Granted, the women on the show had children, and the children are at risk. Intervention is necessary if the show was truthful. However, the intervention those two women need and many others out there who they represented, should not have included a trip to the Dr. Phil show! And definitely not by their little princess perfect sister, who had no right to ask them to do such a thing.

I don't think I'll watch the show anymore; not because of what the tabloids say, and not because I deem that particular show to be totally true, but because Phil comes across as demoralizing to me now. Ratings for a show should not be gotten from the exploitation of people's lives, or even from made up tales with people willing to accept payment to act out such awful tales. I know you may be thinking, "it's just a show and these people choose to go on, and maybe they are even told how to act when they get there". But, there are people watching who cannot reason this for themselves. This particularly perturbs me for those folks.

I'm tired of the tabloids, and the media, and the people who make their fortune on the pathetic lives of others. I'm tired of the reality shows as well. Hmmmm, what is left? Down on TV. I guess...