Thursday, Lafayette, Indiana

It was thirty years ago this week, 1987 that Dick Clark’s iconic teenage music and dance program American Bandstand was cancelled after a thirty year run. Every afternoon for those three decades American teenagers watched the program that featured the top music artists of the day from pop and Rock & Roll. And in between these guest appearances Dick Clark would serve as D.J. as a group of local Philadelphia teenagers danced to the hits of the time.

Among the popular features were the Bandstand Stroll where the group would form two lines, boys on one side, girls across the way, and each couple danced their way down the line toward the camera. If you want to get an image of the program it is satirized in the hit movie and stage musical, Hairspray that depicted the controversy in Baltimore where the television station objected to black and white teenagers dancing together on the program.

The program gave national exposure to a staggering array of musical artists from Jerry Lee Lewis in the early 1950’s through Michael Jackson & the Jackson Five and even Run DMC. On the show the singers lip-synced their songs before the studio audience of teens. Among the famous artists to make their first national appearance were Madonna and Tony Orlando who performed a song with his fly open!

Then there was Prince, who famously refused to answer Dick’s questions except through hand gestures, making clear from the start that, as talented as he was, he was an eccentric freak. As quaint as this show seems today, in that early era Dick Clark gave national exposure to the musicians that kids were listening to on the radio.

In many cases, Clark’s conservative look and demeanor helped many parents come to see the rock stars in a better, less threatening light. No wonder he lasted for thirty years. The contrast was often jarring and Dick Clark masterfully bridged the cultural divide.

Wednesday, Cleveland, Ohio

NOTE: I heard from some folks who suffer with this challenge and were upset with my glib tone.

I apologize for the insensitivty and have described the problem based on my best clinical knowledge. Hope this helps. Will

Think you have stress?
How much?
Can you measure it?
How do you measure stress anyway?

One way is to evaluate the symptoms you experience.

For many, the stress interrupts their sleep, their eating or digestion. For others the impact is seen in our irritable or withdrawn mood. However, to the degree that our behaviors become more extreme, it becomes an indication that stress is overwhelming us. And it can take many curious forms. And among the most curious is Trichotillomania.

Trichotillomania is a strange disorder that is essentially an impulse control problem with the unique characteristic of an urge to pull out your hair wherever it is on your body. As strange as this habit is, the people with this disorder can live otherwise normal lives. The only giveaway is that their heads often have bald spots and their eyelashes may be bare. And of course the consequence for the person is an intense self consciousness and social withdrawal.

Therapists suspect that the behavior is closely connected to stress and may be in the same category as biting one’s nails, picking at the skin or other obsessive behaviors. The oddity of the condition adds to the stress in that victims are very hesitant to report their problem.

Symptoms: The recurrent pulling out of one’s own hair that results in noticeable hair loss:

1. Recurrent pulling out of one’s own hair that results in noticeable hair loss

2. An increasing sense of tension immediately before pulling out the hair out when attempting to resist the behavior

3. Pleasure, gratification, or relief when pulling out the hair

Tuesday, Providence, Rhode Island

Dr. Gunnar Ollsen was born in Holland and emigrated to the U.S. as a teenager. He soon became addicted to television, typically devoting over one hundred hours each week to watching. Sent by his parents to counseling, he then developed a reaction formation and became committed to spreading the idea that television is destroying American civilization. He now devotes his life to, in his words, “killing television before it kills us!” He sent the following:

Dr. Will,

Here is an article I recently submitted to the New York Times. So far no response but I hereby give you permission to print it.

Despite what you may think, I have a balanced view about television. But I believe we are in dreamland when it comes to its dangers. Like any household equipment, television can be a valued convenience or an instrument of death. Of all the household appliances, I believe that only the refrigerator has killed more people. It is ruining millions of children each year and parents must be on guard for the early signs of television related problems. And there are many emotional, social, and psychological illnesses unique to television viewers.

For starters, here is a list of five television related maladies that I have personally identified. I am appalled that these have never been defined or described in the self help literature.

Television Separation Stare: When unable to be near a television, the victim is so anxious, that they become transfixed by any object whose shape resembles a television. In extreme cases, victims have been known to sit motionless in front of a microwave oven and even the dark opening of a dog house.

Cartoon Phonics Disorder: Over-identification with animated characters with speech impediments creates chronic phonetic difficulty.

Ryan Screen Fungus: This rare condition whereby the victim watches TV immediately after invigorating physical activity and while still perspiring. Such prolonged viewing in damp clothing triggers a skin fungus. It was named after Michael Ryan whose television induced fungus was so severe his skin had a permanent green hue.

Cable Wire Phobia: A condition of extreme fear that the cable system will malfunction and cut the victim off from viewing. A related condition is known as SDAC (“Satellite Dish Aiming Compulsion”) which describes a compulsion to constantly realign a satellite dish for better reception. These conditions often require hospitalization during thunderstorms.

Goodson-Toddson Reactive Narcalepsy: Over-dependency on the action of game shows creating a tendency to nod off during any perceived lapse of excitement.

And the list goes on! I have personally identified over two dozen psychological disorders directly related t television viewing. I believe America is circling the drain and it is television that is flushing us all away.

Think about it!

Monday, Roanoke, Virginia

Sports has become an enterprise of expectations. Who should win and by how much? The results are critical. But not just to please the partisan fans.. Sports are not simply a distraction or an idle curiosity. Big bucks are involved. We expect you to win and those others to lose this game. And we expect to have the final score be what we expect the score to be! Money is at stake.

And the money at stake is not just the gamblers’ stakes. Game results and season outcomes determine coaching jobs and salaries, school prestige and student applications, stadium ticket sales and fan loyalty. The pressures are felt up and down the food chain, from the University administrators down through Athletic Directors, Head Coaches, Assistants, athletes and the parents. It even affects teenagers and adolescents, along with their ambitious parents, with dreams of becoming millionaire, professional athletes themselves.

Because in America dreams quickly morph into expectations

And expectation inevitably becomes entitlement

Given this unbearable burden of stress radiating throughout the system, when things do not go as expected, as we demand and feel we’re entitled to - somebody must pay.

This morning, two men in particular are feeling the glare of thousands of fans and critics for the unraveling of their programs’ righteous weekend expectations. Today is a bad day for Charlie Weiss at Notre Dame and Lloyd Carr at Michigan. The failures of their teams are being interpreted principally as their personal failures.

When Appalachian State University comes to Ann Arbor and, in front of over a hundred thousands home town fans, beats beats you in your own storied stadium, well…that just cannot be ignored. And when Georgia Tech beats you like a dirty rug right in front of Touchdown Jesus, there is explaining to do.

At a time when we feel impotent to make political representatives bend to our will, we can turn our wrath on coaches. Because in this case, the public pressure does what we cannot do to Congress, the President and all the other leaders who let us down - cwe can ompel them to perform or get the boot!

So Crabby Face Lloyd and Weeble Body Charlie might both be on the phone to their agents this morning putting out feelers for a television analyst position at the end of this season.