Nitpick: she does have a degree. A doctorate no less.
It’s in physiology, but still.
In Panama, as elsewhere in Latin America, people use titles like Licenciado (holder of the equivalent of a Bachelor’s degree) and Inginiero (Engineer) a lot, (besides the more familiar ones of Senor/Senora, Doctor, etc), but they don’t stack them up like the Germans do.
I don’t know if it’s because my last name is hard to pronounce for a Spanish speaker, but people here have a habit of addressing me as “Doctor George” (my first name). I tell my assistants they are welcome to call me George, or call me Doctor Colibri, but pick one or the other - I hate being called Doctor George!
From here on out I demand to be known as Colonel Asterion.
Hey, if generations of Southern white men could do it, why can’t I?
Yes, it is true.
Also: Listen to a Dr. Laura show, or Dr. Phil, or anything like them. They include somewhere, in the audio or written disclaimers running by at lightning speed, a statement to the effect that this program is not intended to dispense medical/psychological/whatever advice and that Dr. X’s responses to callers are intended as general information and/or entertainment and do not constitute a therapeutic or other binding legal relationship, etc.
By the way, she describes herself as having these qualifications: “Post-Doctoral Certification in Marriage, Family and Child Counseling, Human Relations Center, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, Licensed Marriage, Family and Child Counselor (MFCC), California, formerly in private practice for 12 years” so she is not out of the scope of her expertise per se. Her use of “Dr.” has been noted as problematic because it is in physiology. Note that she never says that she is providing psychological advice, but rather “help[s] people with a wide range of personal, work, and familial problems. She ‘preaches, teaches, and nags about morals, values and ethics.’” You may think that’s nitpicky, but it’s the distinction between advice/“help” and therapy.
Here’s Dr. (Clinical Psychology) Phil’s website disclaimer. Its purpose is not just to decrease legal liability, but to assert that he is not functioning as a treating psychologist:
I didn’t say that “Dr” was protected. I said
Part of what that means is that when somebody says to me, “Well, you’re a psychiatrist,” I have a legal obligation to correct this and say, “No, I’m a psychologist. I’m not a medical doctor,” for example. It also means that when patients call my students “doctor,” my students have to say some version of “Not yet.” An active misrepresentation of yourself as a psychologist also will get you those sanctions quoted above. I assume there are also legal penalties for misrepresenting oneself as a medical doctor in the statutes related to that licensing board, but I’m not going to look them up.
Not one of those cites you list supports your position. None of them prohibit the use of the title “Doctor.”
Are there still Imperial Majesties? 
Of course, my posting here is slightly ironic.
I didn’t say that “doctor” was restricted.
I said that if the use of the word “doctor” led someone to believe that you were a psychologist or a medical doctor, you could be fined. askeptic said that this wasn’t true, giving the example of Dr. Laura, and I replied that she and others like her use disclaimers in order to demonstrate that they are informing the public that what they are doing is not medicine or psychology. I included an excerpt from Oregon’s statutes to demonstrate that representing oneself as a psychologist when you are not is illegal and can lead to a fine.
Shoshana you still do not get it. Forget the Dr. Laura example. Focus on the statute you cited. Notice how it talks about practicing or attempting to obtain a license? Anyone may legally call themselves Doctor, where they get in trouble is when they do things which can be described as practicing medicine if they do not have a license. Personally I think it is just as silly for a doctor to insist on the title in non-professional settings as it is for someone who is not entitled to use them. The example with your students is not apt because they certainly are practicing psychology and must make it clear that they are students under supervision of licensed professionals.
Well you could always contact the Govenor of Kentucky.
As askeptic pointed out, this is not an accurate summary of the statute you cited.
The statute does not equate using “Dr.” and “not correcting etc.” with “representing oneself as a psychologist etc.”
The official name of the company that makes Porsche cars uses the founder’s full titles – Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche A.G… The “F.” is for Ferdinand and the “A.G.” is the corporate form indicator. The rest of it is some mysterious set of German honorifics. I wonder if in social settings one would be obligated to recite them all when addressing someone like Ferdinand Porsche.
Sorry if I’m representing someone here, but isn’t that basically what Shoshana said?
It’s not the title, it’s pretending to have the licence.
It’s just one title, actually - Dr. Ing. h.c. means “Doctor of Engineering, honoris causa”
- Dipl.-Ing. tschild
These are the elements of Shoshona’s crime of impersonating a medical professional –
(1) You use “Dr” before your name
(2) somebody thinks you’re a medical doctor or a psychologist
(3) you don’t correct them
These are the elements of Oregon’s crime of representation as psychologist:
(1) Represent oneself to be a psychologist
(2) without first being licensed
There’s a world of difference between the two crimes.
Actually, lawyers only rarely have doctorates. The degree held by most lawyers is called “juris doctoris”, but it’s not actually a doctorate degree.
At my undergraduate school, the department secretary actually had a PhD (though not in the same field as the department). She just went by “Beth”, or, if we insisted on being formal, “Dr. Beth”. I don’t think anyone remembered her last name.
A juris doctor is a doctorate degree in the same way that an M.D. or many other professional degrees are. Although most lawyers don’t use the title “doctor,” I believe that there is an A.B.A. guideline saying that there’s nothing wrong with it, so long as lawyers in the medical malpractise field don’t use it in a way that misleads people to believe that they have medical qualifications.
From wiki FWIW:The Doctor of Jurisprudence or Juris Doctor (J.D.), like the Doctor of Medicine (M.D.), is a professional doctorate. The Doctor of Judicial Science (S.J.D.), and Doctor of Comparative Law (D.C.L.), are research and academic-based doctorate level degrees. In the U.S. the Legum Doctor (LL.D.) is only awarded as an honorary degree.
Yes, I do get it.
I say again, and for the last time, that in response to an OP asking about which title to use, I stated that if you call yourself “Dr” and someone believes you to be practicing psychology or medicine and you do not correct them, you can be fined. This is true. It falls under “Has impersonated a licensed psychologist.” One of the ways to impersonate a psychologist (or medical doctor) is to call yourself “Dr” and not disabuse people of the notion that you are a psychologist or medical doctor. I have seen this enforced.
No, there isn’t.
“(1) Represent oneself to be a psychologist”: One way of doing so is to call yourself “doctor” and not correct the impression that you are a psychologist. It is the major way that people who are not psychologists, wittingly or unwittingly, represent themselves to be a psychologist.
“(2) without first being licensed”: Which is a way of saying that you are practicing psychology under false pretenses, i.e., impersonating a psychologist. “Without first being licensed” covers not only a psychologist in training, but any person who engaged in the legally restricted acts that are included in the legal definition of a psychologist’s scope of practice.
Whether you are trained as a psychologist or not, only a licensed psychologist can legally practice psychology. In fact, you must be licensed in that jurisdiction. Practicing psychology in a jurisdiction in which you are not licensed, even though you really are “Dr” and have a license in another state, is still illegal, and constiututes impersonating a psychologist. Similarly, if a psychologist uses the title “Dr” (whether or not she has a doctorate) and either does not correct someone’s impression that she is a psychiatrist, or practices medicine without a license by telling a psychotherapy client that he should be on Paxil rather than Prozac, she is impersonating a medical doctor and can be pursued legally under a comparable statute.
One way to go after Dr. Phil (who is trained as and was formerly licensed as a psychologist) for his behavior in the Britney hospital fiasco could be to assert that he was impersonating a psychologist by providing psychological services (if that’s what he was doing) without correcting her family’s perception that he was a licensed psychologist, their perception being based on his use of “Dr” without clarifying that his role is as entertainer/motivational coach. He is “Dr” and has a doctorate in psychology, but under the law, he may not call himself “psychologist” and practice psychology. Even an assertion that he violated Britney’s “confidentiality” refers to the issue of his status, because as an entertainer he has no grounds on which to offer “confidentiality,” nor is it expected of him. Only by impersonating a psychologist (or comparable professional) does he create the expectation of confidentiality and of a privileged client-psychotherapist relationship.
Calling yourself “Dr” and not clarifying, if relevant, that you are not a psychologist or medical doctor is one of the ways the statute I cited, and similar statutes, are interpreted. There are other ways to take someone down for being out of scope of practice, but this one is very easy.
I’m happy to “Forget the Dr. Laura example.” I didn’t bring up Dr. Laura; I responded to the example of Dr. Laura raised by another poster. It was, however, raised as a counterargument to my assertion, and I provided evidence that both Drs. Laura and Phil take pains to assert that they are not practicing as psychologists.
Kindly cease to assert that I said that “Dr” was restricted, protected, etc. I did not.
In Germany, then, is it not common for non-medical university professors to use the title Doctor? During my four years at UCSD and two years at UCLA I found that the title Professor was hardly ever used to address an instructor while Doctor was much more common. Unless of course we were asked to address them more informally.