In Florida, only a licensed psychologist can use certain words or terms in their advertisements or business materials. . Terms like "psychological," and "psychotherapy," are protected. The law is meant to prevent unlicensed activity. If these words appear in the add of an individual not licensed as a psychologist, there is a violation subject to complaint. The statue (490.012) is reproduced below.
Why do practitioners do this. I'd like to assume that is that they just do not happen to know the statute. But even if inadvertent, it does misrepresent. Also, people who are specifically seeking psychological help or psychological testing, are misled. Such providers may call their reports "mental health tests" or the like, to provide the service but avoid the term.
If you see an advertisement that contains the protected words or psychological, you can as a courtesy call and ask if they are licensed psychologists. It may be an awkward conversation, but allows them to correct the mistake, rather than just making a complaint to the department of health. The problem tends to be worse when there are few licensed psychologists around. In a bigger city, the ads would be called out more quickly.
A tip is to look at license rather than degree when assessing a provider. A marketing trick by some providers is to get a cheesy PhD from a low rated school with very easy admissions, that allows you to call yourself "Doctor." Check the quality of the degree and the accreditation. For a psychologist, the preferred degree is an APA approved program in clinical psychology, and then an APA approved internship. From a group of advertised providers who look about the same on paper, you are going to get very widely divergent levels of credentials. Clinical skill is not always reliant on degree, but it is not a good sign if there is an attempt to blur one's professional credentials by using disallowed terms in an ad or report. If such a document appears in a forensic setting with unauthorized use of protected terms, or originating with an ad that use them, it could raise attention.
Finally, Psychologists sometimes are confused with psychiatrists many times. The latter are medical doctors, with an MD like a surgeon, urologist, or cardiologist. Licensed Psychologists in Florida have PhD's from a specific type of program with a particular credentialing, have an array of internships to complete, and a licensing exam. The two degrees are derived from very different academic traditions. Personally I enjoy working with psychiatrists because they know the medical aspects of behavioral problems and the way medication and therapy can complement each other.
Finally, something should be said about another group, those with doctorates in social work.
The statute is below:
