Dr. Pickell

— Dr. Pickell in "Doctor Pickle."

* Heitz
* McCauley
* Schick

**Dr. Pickell** (also known as **Dr. Pickle**) is a character in the *Wayside School* books. He does not appear in the cartoon. He is the school counselor of Wayside School, and utilizes a pickle-shaped stone at the end of a long chain to cure people of their issues using hypnosis, though often pulling pranks on them as well.

## Appearance

Dr. Pickell is described as looking scary to the students, having bushy eyebrows and a small beard on his pointed chin. He wears small glasses around his "deep, penetrating" eyes. Aside from this, little is described about Dr. Pickell's appearance. He utilizes a small, translucent, pickle-shaped stone to hypnotize others.

## Personality

Although as a school counselor, his job is to cure people with sick minds, he is described as having a "pretty sick mind of his own." As is revealed in "Doctor Pickle," he formerly had a job as a psychiatrist, before being fired due to pulling pranks on his patients, such as having one woman slap her husband Fred whenever he said the word "potato," something that continues during his time at Wayside School, when he has Paul try to eat Leslie's ears whenever she says the word "pencil." He occasionally humors himself, even when not making people do ridiculous things, as in "Up and Down," he cures D.J.'s hiccups by simply scaring them out of him, pulling a bait-and-switch before he can finish his usual routine, claiming that it's the first thing he learned in psychiatrist school. Despite his sense of humor, however, he holds no intent in causing people actual harm, as in "The Mirror," he denies himself a chance to become famous when he realizes others could be put at risk.

Dr. Pickell is a good doctor, despite the pranks he pulls, as his hypnotherapy does cure most patients of their problems, and as is seen in "Oppositosis" and "Mr. K and Dr. P," he can recognize a variety of different conditions and come up with cures for them. Even when not pulling pranks, however, his therapy can occasionally come with unintended side-effects, as is seen with Kathy's backwards handwriting in "Oppositosis." Additionally, even when not directly pranking his patients, his methods of curing them can still be seen as unorthodox, as in "Mr. K and Dr. P," his first attempted cure for Mr. Kidswatter's stuck face is hitting him over the head with a large book, and when that doesn't work, his hypnosis stunt involves Mr. Kidswatter imagine himself getting hit in the face with a pie.

Despite being fired as a psychiatrist, he still has a strong interest in psychiatry, idolizing Sigmund Freud, and owning many books on the subject. In "The Mirror," when he realizes he has made a breakthrough after transferring his own stuck face to his reflection, he considers sharing his discovery with the world, in hopes that it could make him famous, a chance he ultimately rejects, due to his fear that the face could be further transferred to others, causing him to smash the mirror instead. Additionally, in "The Ultimate, Ultimate Test," he briefly asks Deedee about whether dreams are real during the Stairway Quiz in the Ultimate Test, and shows interest in her response that they are "real dreams."

## Appearances

Dr. Pickell only appears in seven book chapters. Major appearances are in **bold**.

* "**Doctor Pickle**"
* "**A Story with a Disappointing Ending**"
* "**Up and Down**"
* "**Oppositosis**"
* "**Mr. K and Dr. P**"
* "**The Mirror**"
* "The Ultimate, Ultimate Test"

## Trivia

* In "A Story with a Disappointing Ending," he is only referred to as "the counselor," rather than Dr. Pickell or Dr. Pickle.

## Gallery

"Doctor Pickle" (1995)"Doctor Pickle" (2003)"Doctor Pickle" (2004)"Doctor Pickle" (2004)"Doctor Pickle" (2019)(2019)"Up and Down" (2020)
### Other designs

Peter Allen design (British edition, 2004)
## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "A Story with a Disappointing Ending"
2. ↑ "Doctor Pickle"
3. ↑ "The Mirror"