Mental Quacks

P: A shy, melancholy college student took his troubles to a quack "psychologist." The quack told him to enroll in a course in public speaking and tell his troubles to the class. The student tried it, broke down, later committed suicide.

P: A mother consulted another mind-quack about her eleven-year-old "problem child." The quack recommended sending the child to a boarding school where she would get strict discipline. The child, who needed love more than punishment, became a mental case, perhaps incurable.

P: A wife consulted another quack because she was not getting along with her husband. The "consultant" advised sexual relations with another man, and the marriage broke up.

These and other case histories of the victims of mental quacks are described by Dr. Morris Fishbein, editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association, in the current issue of the Woman's Home Companion. Says Dr. Fishbein: "Our mental hospitals, penal institutions and, yes, our graveyards contain many occupants who would not be there if we only required sensible standards for psychological practitioners."

There are, says Fishbein, about 3,500 scientifically trained practicing psychologists and psychiatrists. But there are at least 25,000 others--"many of them charlatans"--who advertise that they can cure every psychic ill that man is heir to. The public now pays $375 million a year to these psychological quacks.

Fishbein's prescription: have standards set up and practitioners certified by the American Psychiatric Association, American Psychological Association, National Vocational Guidance Association. There would be no trouble, he thinks, persuading all 48 states* to back up such standards by law.

One city has not waited for the state to act. San Diego last month put into effect an ordinance regulating psychologists, "marriage counsellors," etc. A five-member city commission has set up the requirements for getting a license to practice: good moral character, two years of graduate study or the equivalent in psychology or related fields, plus two years of experience under proper supervision. By last week the commission had turned down one application and granted one (to a member of the commission). Several other applications are pending.

One indirect effect: the San Diego telephone directory now lists only four instead of seven "psychologists."

*Virginia licenses practicing psychologists, requires that they be of "good moral standing," hold a degree of Doctor of Philosophy in psychology, have five years' clinical experience. Connecticut "certifies," but does not license psychologists, requires a Ph.D. in psychology, two years' experience.

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