Editing David Viscott

{{short description|American physician}}

{{Infobox person 
| name        = David Viscott 
| image       = DavidViscott.jpg
| caption     = 
| birth_name  = David Steven Viscott
| birth_date  = {{Birth date|1938|5|24}} 
| birth_place = [[Boston|Boston, Massachusetts]], U.S.
| death_date  = {{Death date and age|1996|10|10|1938|5|24}} 
| death_place = [[Studio City, Los Angeles|Studio City, California]], U.S.
| death_cause = 
| known_for   = 
| alma_mater  = {{ubl|[[Dartmouth College]]|[[Tufts University School of Medicine]]}}
| occupation  = Psychiatrist, author 
| spouse      = {{ubl|{{marriage|Judith Ann Finn|1959|1976|end=divorced}}|{{marriage|Katherine Random|1983}}}}
| children    = 4
}}

'''David Steven Viscott''' (May 24, 1938 – October 10, 1996) was an American [[psychiatrist]], author, businessman, and media personality. He was a graduate of [[Dartmouth College|Dartmouth]] (1959), Tufts Medical School and taught at [[Boston University|University Hospital]] in [[Boston]]. He started a private practice in psychiatry in 1968 and later moved to [[Los Angeles, California|Los Angeles]] in 1979 where he was a professor of psychiatry at [[UCLA]]. He founded and managed the Viscott Center for Natural Therapy in [[Beverly Hills]], [[Newport Beach]] and [[Pasadena, California|Pasadena]], [[California]].<ref name=obit>{{cite news |first=Wolfgang |last=Saxon |title=David Viscott, Psychotherapist Of the Airwaves, Is Dead at 58 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/10/20/us/david-viscott-psychotherapist-of-the-airwaves-is-dead-at-58.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=October 20, 1996}}</ref>

==Biography==
In 1980 Viscott began presenting his own full-time show on [[talk radio]], and was notably one of the first psychiatrists to do so (talk station [[KABC radio|KABC]]). He screened telephone calls and gave a considerable amount of free psychological counselling to his on-air "patients."

In 1987 Viscott briefly had his own live [[Television syndication|syndicated]] [[television|TV]] show, ''Getting in Touch with Dr. David Viscott'', providing much the same service as his radio show. In fact, the shows ran concurrently. In the early 1990s he had a weekly call-in therapy television program on [[KNBC]] in Los Angeles early Sunday morning after [[Saturday Night Live]], titled ''Night Talk with Dr. David Viscott''.

Viscott's signature style was to attempt to isolate an individual's source of emotional problems in a very short amount of time.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-01-26-tm-22135-story.html |title=The David Viscott You Didn't Know |first=Nora |last=Zamichow |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=January 26, 1997}}</ref> Many of his books were of a self-help nature, written to assist the individual with his own examination of life. His autobiography, ''The Making of a Psychiatrist'', was a best-seller, a [[Book of the Month Club]] Main Selection, and nominated for the [[Pulitzer Prize]].

Along with [[psychiatric]] advice, he would fall back on his medical knowledge to regularly devote entire segments of radio to answering [[medical]] questions. During these segments he would give medical advice. Many of the questions answered had to do with [[pharmacological]] advice. This was unique in the world of talk radio.

Viscott's popularity peaked in the early 1990s, and then fell sharply. A separation from his wife, followed by declining health, occurred at about the same time that he left the air waves. He died in 1996 of [[heart failure]] complicated by a [[diabetic]] condition. At the time, he was living alone in Los Angeles. He is survived by three of his four children: Elizabeth, Penelope, and Jonathan.

==''The Simpsons''==
In the television show ''[[The Simpsons]]'', the character Dr. Marvin Monroe's voice was based on Viscott.<ref>Groening, Matt (2001). Commentary for "[[There's No Disgrace Like Home]]", in ''The Simpsons: The Complete First Season'' [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.</ref> Monroe has been retired since the [[The Simpsons (season 7)|seventh season]] because voicing the character strained Harry Shearer's throat.<ref>Jean, Al (2001). Commentary for "[[Some Enchanted Evening (The Simpsons)|Some Enchanted Evening]]", in ''The Simpsons: The Complete First Season'' [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.</ref> The character's retirement was marked by the broadcast of a Dr. Marvin Monroe Memorial Hospital over [[#Eddie and Lou|Lou]]'s walkie-talkie in "[[Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part Two)]]".<ref>Oakley, Bill (2005). Commentary for "[[Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part Two)]]", in ''The Simpsons: The Complete Seventh Season'' [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.</ref> Since then, several references to Monroe being dead have been made: a glimpse of his gravestone in "[[Alone Again, Natura-Diddily]]", a Dr. Marvin Monroe Memorial Gymnasium seen in "[[Bye Bye Nerdie]]", and a trivia interstitial in the "[[The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular|138th Episode Spectacular]]" regarding which popular characters had recently died. However, Monroe is seen alive in the [[The Simpsons (season 15)|fifteenth season]] in "[[Diatribe of a Mad Housewife]]" purchasing a copy of Marge's novel, ''The Harpooned Heart'', stating simply that he had "...been very sick" when asked about his long absence by Marge. He was later seen as a ghost, claiming that he was "stuck in limbo" in "[[Treehouse of Horror XXV]]".

==Notable books by Viscott==

* ''The Making of a Psychiatrist'' See [[Doctors (novel)|Doctors]]
* ''The Viscott Method''
* ''Risking''
* ''I Love You, Let's Work It Out''
* ''The Language of Feelings''
* ''Emotional Resilience''  {{ISBN|978-0-517-88825-4}}
* ''Finding Your Strength in Difficult Times''
* ''Emotionally Free''
* ''How to Live with Another Person''
* ''Feel Free''
* ''Winning''
* ''Taking Care of Business''
* ''What Every Kid Should Know''
* ''Labyrinth of Silence''
* ''Dorchester Boy: Portrait of a Psychiatrist as a Very Young Man''  {{ISBN|978-0877950707}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{IMDb name|id=1973057|name=David Viscott}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Viscott, David}}
[[Category:1938 births]]
[[Category:1996 deaths]]
[[Category:American psychiatrists]]
[[Category:American psychology writers]]
[[Category:American talk radio hosts]]
[[Category:American self-help writers]]
[[Category:Television personalities from Los Angeles]]
[[Category:Tufts University School of Medicine alumni]]
[[Category:Dartmouth College alumni]]
[[Category:David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA faculty]]
[[Category:20th-century American physicians]]
[[Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:20th-century American male writers]]
[[Category:American male non-fiction writers]]