History Series / DrPhil

** Do ''not'' insult his staff.

* AbusiveParents: Quite often. Even in cases where the kid is the one out of control, Dr. Phil often uncovers some form of abuse going on that either caused the problems or exacerbate them.

** During the episode featuring Jillian Mai Thi Epperly, a member of the audience, a vulnerable and fragile-looking elderly man, attempted to rush the stage to plead with the Quack to give him a sample of her Jilly Juice ‘cure’, having been utterly hoodwinked by her claims. Given that this same ‘medicine’ had been responsible for numerous hospitalzations and had the possibility to even kill people, Dr. Phil was less than impressed.

* BigotVsBigot: "[[RealityTVShowMansion The Dr. Phil House]]." A skinny girl who hates fat people living with a morbidly obese man who hates skinny people! A black racist living with a white racist! A redneck homophobe living with a butch heterophobe! For the most part, it was successful, except for the fat guy.

** In episodes with unruly and out-of-control children (sometimes adult children, that still live at home), Dr. Phil almost always places the blame on the parents. When one guest called him out on this, saying that he'll blame her because "he'll blame the parents like he always does" (she was a frequent watcher of the show), he was less than pleased. And indeed, [[IResembleThatRemark he still blamed her for her child's problems]].

* GrammarNazi: Whatever you do, don't use the word 'but' in a sentence when speaking to Dr. Phil. You'll get an earful for it. Not for grammar reasons, but because Dr. Phil takes this as trying to evade responsibility.

* GoodIsNotSoft: Dr. Phil does have a reputation for saving many lives of people who have suffered from abuse, neglect, rape, molestation, or addiction. That being said though, Dr. Phil does ''not'' mince words with more difficult guests and doesn't care if you hate him or not. Also, Dr. Phil will [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25Q4CMguMpQ kick guests off his stage]] if they are rude and cause trouble and he ''will definitely'' [[https://youtu.be/DisGC8PukRg alert local authorities]] if a guest is doing things that are illegal or dangerous.

* GoodIsNotSoft: Dr. Phil does have a reputation for saving many lives of people who have suffered from abuse, neglect, rape, molestation, or addiction. That being said though, Dr. Phil does ''not'' mince words with more difficult guests and doesn't care if you hate him or not. And he ''will'' [[https://youtu.be/DisGC8PukRg alert local authorities]] if a guest's behavior is really bad enough.

** Arguably the most infamous example is Danielle, a 13-year-old guest who appeared in the September 2016 episode "I'm Done with My Car-Stealing, Knife-Wielding, Twerking 13-Year-Old". Danielle differs from many of the out-of-control teenagers who have appeared on ''Dr. Phil'' in her mannerisms, acting similarly to the out-of-control teens who have appeared on ''Series/{{Maury}}'' (dressing provocatively, talking in a "street" accent, excessive smack-talk to the extent of cursing at her mom and grandmother on-stage). Among other things, she has assaulted her mother Barbara Ann in the breast despite her having had breast cancer twice, has stolen cars (even absconding with $3 and car keys of a show make-up artist who was present during filming at their family's home, who expressed that she felt violated by being robbed by Danielle), has recreationally taken Xanax and smoked marijuana, stolen her mother's credit cards with balances totaling $6,000 (even buying a stripper pole at one point), threatened her mother with knives, was accused of framing Barbara Ann on a drug possession charge and even taunted her mother one time after coming home after stealing her mom's car by twerking in front of her face[[note]]For obvious reasons, Danielle's backside is blurred in the video of said incident shown since she was wearing only a thong on that area of her body at the time it was recorded[[/note]]. It doesn't help matters that her mother, Barbara Ann, [[NotSoAboveItAll often reacts to Danielle's similar threats by engaging in verbal altercations and physically threatening her]]. Dr. Phil points out that she's not as "street smart" as she lets on, as Danielle single-handedly admitted on-camera to premeditated grand theft auto, leaving the scene of an accident after crashing the make-up artist's car, theft and even implicating a friend in the possession of stolen goods, and surmises that Danielle puts up a tough veneer because she's been hurt many times in life. To get Danielle to go to the rehab ranch they plan to send her to, Dr. Phil gives her a choice: either go to the ranch or the make-up artist will file charges against her for the crimes she committed during the week of the video shoot. She ultimately does go but briefly puts up a fight backstage before she decides to head to the ranch. She became an Internet meme and subsequently attempted a rap career under the name Bhad Bhabie, succeeding only in ending up on various "worst of" music lists.