Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe – Horror 2005: A Medical Review
When I picked OHOTMU – Horror 2005 up, I immediately turned to the Brother Voodoo page. He has a nice long description, but I did notice a problem. Under his education it lists: “M.D. in psychology, extensive training in voodoo.”
You cannot have a medical degree in psychology because psychology is not a medical specialty.
For the record, Brother Voodoo is a psychologist, not a psychiatrist (which is a medical specialty). He does not have a medical degree. He probably has a Ph.D. in psychology so he is still a “doctor,” just not a medical doctor.
From the American Heritage Dictionary, a psychologist is “A person trained and educated to perform psychological research, testing, and therapy.” (And it defines psychology as “The science that deals with mental processes and behavior”). Notice that there is not mention of medicine or medical anywhere in these definitions. In contrast, the definition of psychiatry states: “The branch of medicine that deals with the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of mental and emotional disorders.”
Psychology and psychiatry are two different disciplines. While they deal with many of the same topics, they tend to approach them differently. Neither is superior; I like to think that they are complementary.
And as a final nit-pick, an M.D. is an M.D. — you don’t earn an M.D. “in” something. Specialization occurs after the degree is awarded, during residency and fellowship.
November 21st, 2005 at 10:46 pm
“And as a final nit-pick, an M.D. is an M.D. — you don’t earn an M.D. “in” something. Specialization occurs after the degree is awarded, during residency and fellowship.”
Bitch bitch bitch.
You’re just jealous because they wouldn’t let you do your residency in a flowing red cape and an albino-croc mini-vest.
November 22nd, 2005 at 5:43 am
Personally I love the fact the way the sentence construction makes it sound like he did his MD in psychology with a specialisation in voodoo. I had not realized they offered that as a subject.
Eats, shoots and leaves indeed.
November 22nd, 2005 at 10:09 am
Maybe they meant to have him be a psychiatrist, requiring (in most tracks) that he earn both an M.D. and a Ph.D., thereby allowing him to call himself “Doctor Doctor Voodoo” if he wanted…
November 22nd, 2005 at 10:15 am
“Doctor Doctor Voodoo”
Matt Frewer *is* Brother Voodoo!
(Don’t even try and pretend that I was the only one thinking that.)
November 22nd, 2005 at 11:16 am
My mother–a comics fan and a psychiatrist–once annotated the first 50 issues or so of THUNDERBOLTS, putting sticky notes on every page where Karla Sofen / Moonstone was referred to as either a psychologist or psychiatrist. I don’t remember the final result, but there was definitely some serious inconsistency.
November 23rd, 2005 at 8:41 am
You know, I’m going to have to print out this entry – people ask me if I’m a psychologist or a psychiatrist – I often am tempted to say, “I can do everything but prescribe medication, which is the fun part.”
(Just kidding about the prescriptions – but I should print it out, if only to show off the power of brother Voodoo)
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