Stanley H. Teitelbaum, Ph.D
Stanley Teitelbaum,
Clinical
Psychologist and author
of Sports Heroes,
Fallen Idols.
Dr. Stanley Teitelbaum’s
latest book, Sports
Heroes, Fallen Idols
(University of Nebraska Press, 2005),
examines the moral
climate of modern
sports. He investigates
all of the major sports
and dissects the careers
of most of the usual
suspects (Pete Rose,
Tonya Harding and O.J.
Simpson to name three),
within the context of
society’s unwillingness
to endorse the concept
of responsibility, our
fascination with
celebrity and our
general erosion of
values.
In his speeches, Dr. Teitelbaum
discusses a variety of issues
from drug and alcohol abuse to
domestic violence, gambling and
today’s scourge, steroids. In
his psychotherapy practice, he
has worked extensively with
professional athletes and sports
agents-which has enabled him to
gain insight into the psyche of
sports figures-both on and off
the field. His presentations
help us see past our sports
stars’ exalted images and show
us what that frail imagery says
about our society and ourselves.
Stanley H. Teitelbaum has been a
practicing clinical psychologist
for more than thirty-five years. Since 1980, he has been a Training Analyst and Senior Supervisor and Faculty Member at the Postgraduate Center for Mental Health and also the Training Institute for Mental Health, both in New York City. He is also a founder of the
Contemporary Center for Advanced Psychoanalytic Studies in New
Jersey. Dr. Teitelbaum is the author of numerous articles in leading mental health publications and has appeared on more than twenty-five national television and radio shows including Nightline, Good Morning America, 20/20 and CNN.
During the past twenty years, in
addition to his radio and
television appearances, Dr.
Teitelbaum has been interviewed
frequently for newspaper and
magazine articles on human
motivation on such diverse
topics as “Preventative
Strategies in Dealing with
Sports Rage”, “Women as Targets
of Athletes’ Violence” and
“Spectator Sports Psychology.”
He is a member of many
professional organizations
including the American
Psychological Association,
American Group Psychotherapy
Association, Eastern Group
Psychotherapy Society and the
Postgraduate Psychoanalytic
Society.
Dr. Teitelbaum earned a B.A. in
Psychology from Brooklyn
College; an M.A. in Psychology
from Boston University and a
Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology
from Boston University. In his
spare time, he is a devoted
tennis player and has won
several trophies. Dr. Teitelbaum is also available for speeches and workshops.
Suggested Lecture Topics:
-
Sports Heroes, Fallen Idols:
The Impact of Athletes as
Role Models
-
Sports’ Bad Boys: The
Scandalous Rise of Steroids
-
Athletes’ Legacies?:
Violence against Women,
Murder, Mental Health and
Drugs
Stanley H. Teitelbaum, Ph.D. is available for
speeches and workshops.
THE AUTHOR SUMMARIZES SPORTS HEROES, FALLEN IDOLS:
"This work is about sports stars who fall from their pedestals. It’s about very gifted athletes who lose their
balance and their perspective in off the field misbehavior. It seems like celebrity sports heroes’ egos are out of control.
The fame, glory, adulation and wealth that they acquire does not necessarily cushion them from personal lapses which compromise
their image, and sometimes, even their lives.
The combination of three factors: the hero hungry public which craves the connection to sports icons; the role of the media in
creating heroes whose image is larger than life; and, the susceptibility of athletes to buy into their exalted self image and then
function with a powerful sense of entitlement creates a climate of celebrity worship and an inclination among athletes toward
unlimited freedom to break the rules of society without regard for the consequences.
Some of our sports heroes, under pressure from their own inner demons, or as an outgrowth of their distorted view of themselves
become involved in damaging off-the-field activities. Drug-related crimes and gambling activities are examples of
self-destructive paths that some stars athletes pursue. Abuse toward women and other forms of violence, including
sexual assaults and murder have become commonplace reflections of their destructiveness toward others. Fame can be a great
corrupter and VIP treatment and life in a bubble often leads our sports heroes to live by their own set of rules.
These are among the issues that are examined and explored in this book."
BOOK REVIEWS OF SPORTS HEROES, FALLEN IDOLS
"Teitelbaum
writes
persuasively
that
sports
stars
have
much to
answer
for...An
even-handed
practical
argument
that
athletes
must be
guided
by
decency
and held
accountable
for
their
actions-and
that
fans
need to
get a
life, or
at least
a dose
of
reality.”
-
Kirkus
Reviews
“Drugs,
gambling,
domestic
abuse,
even
occasionally-murder-all
are part
of the
day-to-day
existence
of the
world-class
athletes
profiled
in this
sobering
account
by
psychotherapist
and
lifetime
sports
lover
Teitelbaum...While
Teitelbaum
does
cite ‘an
erosion
of
morality
and
ethical
behavior
in the
public
sector’,
he is
not a
moralist,
but
objective
and
unsympathetic
in his
examination
of the
foibles,
compulsions
and
pathologies
of the
men and
women
many
fans
still
idolize.”
-
Publishers
Weekly
“Stanley
Teitelbaum’s
volume,
Sports
Heroes,
Fallen
Idols,
is a
thoroughly
researched
book
full of
entertaining
stories
about
the
underbelly
of
sports.”
-
Max
Kellerman,
TV &
Radio
personality
“Sports
Heroes,
Fallen
Idols
is a
well-documented
book
that
reveals
a
disturbing,
unflattering,
and at
times
unnerving
account
of
self-absorbed,
flamboyant
sports
stars,
who like
fireworks,
are
thrilling
to watch
before
exploding
before
our
eyes.”
-
Andrea
S. Corn,
PsyD "It is sobering to
read Stanley Teitelbaum's survey of the moral climate of
modern sports. Teitelbaum presents a most
disturbing rewind of the evidence of how athletes,
anointed into heroes by a media machine, and pampered to
an extraordinary degree for most of their adult lives,
have not found the moral stamina to resist the
assortment of temptations such a wealthy lifestyle
brings. Teitelbaum cites our larger culture's
moral erosion, our unwillingness to enforce the concept
of responsibility, and our unending fascination with
celebrity and our perplexing need to manufacture heroes
from jocks."
-- William Sharp, Athleon: The Journal of Sports
Literature
"Stanley Teitelbaum's
study of sports heroes could hardly be timelier.
His thoroughly documented and richly illustrated account
develops intertwined themes: the first is the rise
and fall of the athlete hero, which follows a tragic
trajectory of flawed character, overreaching through
drugs, gambling, violence, or promiscuity, and the
inevitable fall from grace: the second stems from
a "hero-hungry public" that craves connections with
sports icons; aided and abetted by a media which helps
create "larger than life" figures who are "expected to
be perfect." Along with the media, fans perform as
enablers who send messages that the athletes "have a
free pass to do whatever they want."
-- Daniel Dervin, Ph.D., Clio's Psyche
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