Titles, MD's PH.D's etc

[Adam Blatner]

Responding to Bud's question, below:

Degrees should be used or not according to context. I can think of no firm or rigid rule, but there are types of communications, mainly chapters in books, professional journal articles, and so forth, in which it may be assumed that the readers wonder about the professional backgrounds of the people being described. Many people don't know that Moreno was a physician, and became a psychiatrist. Many many people still confuse psychiatrist and psychologist, and since the 1970s, when there was a proliferation of non-medical psychotherapists, the idea has shifted significantly, so that the great majority of people doing therapy have no medical background. 
    Still, there is a great distribution of backgrounds, and some are more rigorously demanding than others. To be a chemical dependency counselor in some states requires very little formal training, for example. I don't know how many psychotherapists in practice have additional degrees from less-rigorous certifying agencies or, may I be frank, "diploma mills."  (Recently, an article in Newsweek noted that while Plastic Surgeons have a certifying board, "cosmetic surgeons" do not, and the name shift can allow lots of less-trained folks, even dentists, into the business of face lifts, etc.)

     In informal correspondence, noting degrees may be unnecessary. On this email list, I am generally addressed by my first name. So it might help to raise the question again with more specific criteria. 
         Warmly, Adam 
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: BARNETT WEISS 
  To: list at grouptalkweb.org 
  Sent: Friday, October 27, 2006 9:58 AM
  Subject: Titles, MD's PH.D's etc


  Dear Colleagues:

  I am very sensitive to using and not using titles like M.D. and Ph.D. and M.A. and M.S. and CSW and LCSW and ACSW and am often at a loss as to what to do in addressing those to whom and about whom I am writing. 

  In my posts at times, I will refer to Jacob L. Moreno, MD as Dr. or Dr. Jacob L. Moreno, M.D. or Dr. Jacob Moreno.  Most of us who knew him as his students, always referred to him endearingly as Doctor (Dr.) without his other names.

  As some of you know especially those of you who worked closely with Milton H. Erickson, M.D., people who didn't know about his work always were confusing him with Dr. Erik Erickson. Consequently, many of us decided, as best we could to refer to Milton H. Erickson, M.D fully so as to make the point. Actually, when we were with him, we addressed him mostly as Dr. Erickson though some who were much more intimate with him actually called him Milton.

  I apologize for taking up some space with this response. It is just that I wanted to explain and address anyone's concerns about how I address Dr. Jacob L. Moreno, M.D. in my various posts.

  What do others feel about this issue, not just in regard to the two giants above, rather in regard to anyone with or without a degree?

  Blesssings all, Bud Weiss, M.A., L.C.S.W. 



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