Dr. Joyce Brothers

Dr. Joyce Brothers

By Tom Kirvan

Long known as a pioneer in the field of “pop(ular) psychology,” Dr. Joyce Brothers catapulted to fame in 1955 when she won the top prize in the TV game show “The $64,000 Question,” correctly answering a query that revolved around her unexpected knowledge about the world of professional boxing.

The game show win led the Brooklyn-born Brothers to various opportunities to dispense her psychological wisdom via the newspaper and television industries, in addition to penning a monthly column for “Good Housekeeping” magazine.

As perhaps the most popular advice columnist of her time, Brothers was widely credited with bringing the subject of mental health out of the shadows so that it could be better understood by the public and then treated effectively by medical professionals.

Dr. Joyce Brothers*

Educated at Cornell University, Brothers earned her master’s and doctoral degrees in psychology from Columbia University, where it became readily apparent that she possessed a photographic memory. Her star continued to rise when she began regularly appearing on “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson,” where she provided psychological updates on the current social climate. Her fame also led to various cameo appearances in such movies as “Police Squad” and “Naked Gun,” and the TV shows “WKRP in Cincinnati” and “Frasier.”

Brothers, who lost her husband to bladder cancer in 1989, reportedly fell into a deep state of depression after his death, but fought her way out of it by writing a widely-acclaimed book, “Widowed,” that shared her grieving process and provided helpful guidelines for those who have suffered a profound loss in their life.

“Happiness hides in life’s small details,” wrote Brothers, who died on May 13, 2013 at the age of 85. “If you’re not looking, it becomes invisible.”

She then added, “Listening, not imitation, may be the sincerest form of flattery,” and “when you come right down to it, the secret to having it all is loving it all.”

*Kenneth C. Zirkel, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons