"The Gun Incident (as it lives in my brain) has become a metaphor for what’s transpired for all of us this past year—since we’ve been threatened with death and disruption brought on by the coronavirus?"

"Lately, I have asked myself this question: Could I have moved forward from that moment without any assistance with my mental health and state of well-being?... We’ve sequestered ourselves for months.... [H]ow do we step out into this new world—emotionally? What about the mental health costs of the underlying anxiety of the times?... [T]he administration has overlooked a dire need—and that decision is a reflection of our values and priorities in this country.... We need the loud, culturally relevant presence of an expert in mental health.... A psychologist general at the forefront of mental health research and delivery would send a strong message that psychological well-being is prized on a par with physical health—a message in keeping with the phrase 'Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.'"... And someone whom we trust. Someone who might become so familiar to us that she or he would turn into a regular character depicted on Saturday Night Live.... [A]ll we’re left with are fictional characters from television—paging Dr. Frasier Crane (Frasier), Dr. Jennifer Melfi (The Sopranos), Dr. Noelle Akopian (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend), Charlie Brown’s pal Lucy, and, of course, all of Larry David’s therapists on Curb. In all seriousness, this speaks to a significant imbalance in our society."

From "The Forgotten F-Word in the Pandemic/Monica Lewinsky wonders if these times demand a prominent mental health czar" by Monica Lewinsky (Vanity Fair). The "The Forgotten F-Word" is feelings. "The Gun Incident" is that time in 2011 when she was stopped in her car and "someone... wearing a widely striped, bright turquoise and gray sweatshirt... gripping a gun, brandished [it] at his waist" in such a way that she was somehow "looking straight down the barrel of A Gun." The car was mightier than the gun, and she was able to "jam my Prius into drive, gun the accelerator, and move forward... [t]ires squealing." I didn't know you could jam and gun a Prius and get its tires to squeal, but Lewinsky deploys action verbs. I love that it's a Prius and that we're not told the color of the "someone" though we're told the color of his sweatshirt — bright turquoise! The point is, she had a traumatic experience in 2011, and she sought psychiatric care, which puts her in a position to recommend mental health care for those going through trauma, and since 2020 is so traumatic for all of us, the nation should have a Psychologist General, and it ought to be someone with such cultural prominence that she/he would get impersonated on "SNL." Instead we only have fictional characters as our centrally prominent psychologist, which is too bad.

That has me remember when the nation did have one most-famous psychologist, and it was somebody that got joked about and impersonated. Do you remember? It was Dr. Joyce Brothers!

Joyce Diane Brothers (October 20, 1927 – May 13, 2013) was an American psychologist, television personality, advice columnist, and writer. She first became famous in 1955 for winning the top prize on the American game show The $64,000 Question, the only woman to do so. Her fame from the game show allowed her to go on to host various advice columns and television shows, which established her as a pioneer in the field of "pop (popular) psychology".

Brothers is often credited as the first to normalize psychological concepts to the American mainstream. Her syndicated columns were featured in newspapers and magazines, including a monthly column for Good Housekeeping, in which she contributed for nearly 40 years. As Brothers quickly became the "face of psychology" for American audiences, she often appeared in various television roles, usually as herself. From the 1970s onward, she also began to accept fictional roles that parodied her "woman psychologist" persona. She is noted for working continuously for five decades across various genres. Numerous groups recognized Brothers for her strong leadership as a woman in the psychological field and for helping to destigmatize the profession overall.

Here's she is in what I'm just going to assume is the 1970s, talking to The Amazing Kreskin:



ADDED: As evidence that Dr. Joyce Brothers was material for the comedians, here she is with Andrew Dice Clay (in what looks like the 1980s):



AND: If you'd like the info in quiz form, here's "Can you name these sitcoms with Dr. Joyce Brothers as a guest star?"



I got 7 out of 10.