Courtney Balaker
Appearances
Ask Dr. Drew
How The Coddled Generation Is Being Set Up To Fail w/ Courtney & Ted Balaker (Producers of “The Coddling Of The American Mind”) + Lionel – Ask Dr. Drew – Ep 430
I have huge problems not seeing my 10-year-old son at the park for four minutes. I panic. I'm just so used to that instinct to not let him be free range, not let him. To answer your question, yeah, I think a lot of it does come from parenting and parents wanting themselves to be comforted and comfortable.
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How The Coddled Generation Is Being Set Up To Fail w/ Courtney & Ted Balaker (Producers of “The Coddling Of The American Mind”) + Lionel – Ask Dr. Drew – Ep 430
So what makes me as the parent more comfortable is not necessarily the best thing for my child. You literally wire the brain when you are up against conflict, when you're doing something difficult, when you're uncomfortable, because you have to react to it, you have to adjust to it.
Ask Dr. Drew
How The Coddled Generation Is Being Set Up To Fail w/ Courtney & Ted Balaker (Producers of “The Coddling Of The American Mind”) + Lionel – Ask Dr. Drew – Ep 430
And if we're just protecting people from being uncomfortable and doing hard things, then the brain just isn't wired to react to it appropriately. It's very dangerous. I think parenting is a huge problem. Hyde also talks about social media.
Ask Dr. Drew
How The Coddled Generation Is Being Set Up To Fail w/ Courtney & Ted Balaker (Producers of “The Coddling Of The American Mind”) + Lionel – Ask Dr. Drew – Ep 430
Now, when Ted and I were growing up, we didn't have Facebook and Twitter and X. We didn't have our most embarrassing moments in our middle school years and our high school years on display forever. That matters, too. And. There could be a protectiveness, which I completely relate to as well from parents. Don't get your feelings hurt. When they do get their feelings hurt, it lives forever online.
Ask Dr. Drew
How The Coddled Generation Is Being Set Up To Fail w/ Courtney & Ted Balaker (Producers of “The Coddling Of The American Mind”) + Lionel – Ask Dr. Drew – Ep 430
There are a lot of different factors, but it's hard as a parent to say, yeah, my kid needs to fail. My kid needs to experience discomfort. You don't want to watch it, but we all did. We all grew up feeling uncomfortable. And that was really good for us. And we all failed and that's really good for us.
Ask Dr. Drew
How The Coddled Generation Is Being Set Up To Fail w/ Courtney & Ted Balaker (Producers of “The Coddling Of The American Mind”) + Lionel – Ask Dr. Drew – Ep 430
What really struck us, as Ted mentioned, Greg is a very dear friend of ours. And we had known him for years until before he released this book with Hyatt. And we did not know that he was suffering from that level of depression. And we did not know he was contemplating suicide.
Ask Dr. Drew
How The Coddled Generation Is Being Set Up To Fail w/ Courtney & Ted Balaker (Producers of “The Coddling Of The American Mind”) + Lionel – Ask Dr. Drew – Ep 430
We did not know he went to the lengths as detailed in the book and the film, as Ted mentioned earlier, going to a hardware store to buy the plastic bags and the duct tape to end his own life. It was shocking. And it was heartbreaking because we just didn't know that our dear friend was going through this.
Ask Dr. Drew
How The Coddled Generation Is Being Set Up To Fail w/ Courtney & Ted Balaker (Producers of “The Coddling Of The American Mind”) + Lionel – Ask Dr. Drew – Ep 430
And what we found as we started interviewing people, finding our young Gen Z interview subjects was really astonishing that so much of the depression, so much of the negative thinking that they were experiencing was so avoidable that And Greg, that's really what drew him to write the book with height. He's like, you know what was pushing me to suicide?
Ask Dr. Drew
How The Coddled Generation Is Being Set Up To Fail w/ Courtney & Ted Balaker (Producers of “The Coddling Of The American Mind”) + Lionel – Ask Dr. Drew – Ep 430
The catastrophic thinking, the mind reading, all the things that we all do as human beings, which is normal. It's not generation specific. We all do it. The things that I was doing, I'm seeing happen on college campuses, catastrophic thinking, mind reading, us versus them. And I found my way out of it.
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How The Coddled Generation Is Being Set Up To Fail w/ Courtney & Ted Balaker (Producers of “The Coddling Of The American Mind”) + Lionel – Ask Dr. Drew – Ep 430
He found his way out of it through cognitive behavioral therapy, which he credits as saving his life that one weekend that he went to an institution. And he said, I see it happening in young people and it doesn't have to. And not only is it happening, it's almost being taught to them by administrators.
Ask Dr. Drew
How The Coddled Generation Is Being Set Up To Fail w/ Courtney & Ted Balaker (Producers of “The Coddling Of The American Mind”) + Lionel – Ask Dr. Drew – Ep 430
It's almost being created in a culture on a campus where if you're upset, have a warm cookie, go color in a coloring book, protect yourself properly. leave that space of discomfort. And as Ted just said, I mean, this is where people become terrified of the real world. They experience anxiety much higher. We all do if we continue to do that. So I hope this is answering your question.
Ask Dr. Drew
How The Coddled Generation Is Being Set Up To Fail w/ Courtney & Ted Balaker (Producers of “The Coddling Of The American Mind”) + Lionel – Ask Dr. Drew – Ep 430
As we were talking to these young kids, so much of this was, yeah, I thought people didn't like me because I didn't have an activism or... Something that I was on board with. I didn't have my crew. I didn't, or I was saying one thing, but thinking another because I didn't want to be ostracized. What a miserable way to live. How do you live like that?
Ask Dr. Drew
How The Coddled Generation Is Being Set Up To Fail w/ Courtney & Ted Balaker (Producers of “The Coddling Of The American Mind”) + Lionel – Ask Dr. Drew – Ep 430
You're thinking one thing, but you're saying another. I mean, that's really a huge part of it. And we all do it a little bit. But when you're doing that on a daily basis and that's how you're forming relationships or finding your interests, it's very cognitively dissonant. And that was what was really concerning, how many young people we were talking to that said, oh, yeah.
Ask Dr. Drew
How The Coddled Generation Is Being Set Up To Fail w/ Courtney & Ted Balaker (Producers of “The Coddling Of The American Mind”) + Lionel – Ask Dr. Drew – Ep 430
But it was very encouraging that they saw the light. You know what? I don't have to experience Wi-Fi. I don't have to think that way. I can put my thoughts on trial, as we all should. Is this negative thing that I keep thinking true? Put it on trial. What's the pro-con list? What's the evidence?
Ask Dr. Drew
How The Coddled Generation Is Being Set Up To Fail w/ Courtney & Ted Balaker (Producers of “The Coddling Of The American Mind”) + Lionel – Ask Dr. Drew – Ep 430
that I'm a horrible person or I suck or all of these things that are very normal to being a human, put it on trial. And it does affect young people. And, you know, I don't think we're beyond the point of no return. I think that there's a lot of hope. And just let's start that conversation and get them on that path.
Ask Dr. Drew
How The Coddled Generation Is Being Set Up To Fail w/ Courtney & Ted Balaker (Producers of “The Coddling Of The American Mind”) + Lionel – Ask Dr. Drew – Ep 430
Well, sorry to interrupt you. A couple people said, well, why didn't you make the case for DEI training being good? Because our film goes a little bit into DEI and is that helping people? Is that making people happier and really better to other people? And when I was posed that question, Ted and I discussed it and we're like, well, That argument has kind of already been made.
Ask Dr. Drew
How The Coddled Generation Is Being Set Up To Fail w/ Courtney & Ted Balaker (Producers of “The Coddling Of The American Mind”) + Lionel – Ask Dr. Drew – Ep 430
I teach at a college, for instance, here in San Diego, and I had to do DEI training. It was online, virtual. I didn't have to go to a room with a bunch of people and someone talking to me about it. I just answered questions online, and I found myself personally answering questions not truthfully, but giving the answer that I think they wanted to hear. Because I didn't want to get in trouble.
Ask Dr. Drew
How The Coddled Generation Is Being Set Up To Fail w/ Courtney & Ted Balaker (Producers of “The Coddling Of The American Mind”) + Lionel – Ask Dr. Drew – Ep 430
And these were like very, you know, innocent questions. It was just like, but some of them were very convoluted, right? And I wish I could think of one right now, but I think we all know if we've gone through DEI training or any sort of corporate or educational training. And I'm like, is that really making us better or get along better if we're falsely answering just to pass the quiz?
Ask Dr. Drew
How The Coddled Generation Is Being Set Up To Fail w/ Courtney & Ted Balaker (Producers of “The Coddling Of The American Mind”) + Lionel – Ask Dr. Drew – Ep 430
So my response to, well, why didn't you have a case in the film of when DEI really knocks it out of the park or helps people? I think it's because that's what we're all exposed to sort of on a day-to-day basis, that this is good, that we need this corporate. Haidt talks about it in the film. Corporate America demands it. You can't avoid it if you teach at a university or a college.
Ask Dr. Drew
How The Coddled Generation Is Being Set Up To Fail w/ Courtney & Ted Balaker (Producers of “The Coddling Of The American Mind”) + Lionel – Ask Dr. Drew – Ep 430
So I feel like our film was like, well, what about the other side of the argument?
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How The Coddled Generation Is Being Set Up To Fail w/ Courtney & Ted Balaker (Producers of “The Coddling Of The American Mind”) + Lionel – Ask Dr. Drew – Ep 430
Yeah, I think that the more parents who have kids in the Gen Z generation can watch it, that's been another wonderful response we've gotten from that demographic. Parents are like, thank you for making it. Thank you for laying this out. We raised our child with a certain set of values. They went to college four years later. They came back a different person. And that's really frustrating. And...
Ask Dr. Drew
How The Coddled Generation Is Being Set Up To Fail w/ Courtney & Ted Balaker (Producers of “The Coddling Of The American Mind”) + Lionel – Ask Dr. Drew – Ep 430
Yeah, we would encourage parents, if you're confused or dealing with questions like this, watch the movie, reach out to us. We love to keep the conversation going and we're really grateful to you for having us on so that we could do that.
Ask Dr. Drew
How The Coddled Generation Is Being Set Up To Fail w/ Courtney & Ted Balaker (Producers of “The Coddling Of The American Mind”) + Lionel – Ask Dr. Drew – Ep 430
Dr. Drew called me unfixable.
Ask Dr. Drew
How The Coddled Generation Is Being Set Up To Fail w/ Courtney & Ted Balaker (Producers of “The Coddling Of The American Mind”) + Lionel – Ask Dr. Drew – Ep 430
I think it's- I don't think she knows what it is.
Ask Dr. Drew
How The Coddled Generation Is Being Set Up To Fail w/ Courtney & Ted Balaker (Producers of “The Coddling Of The American Mind”) + Lionel – Ask Dr. Drew – Ep 430
Yeah. So Ted and I optioned the rights to his book. And we don't know if it's going to be a scripted series or a feature film. That's what we're trying to figure out. But it's an incredibly powerful story about, as you know, a young man who grew up in the foster care system and defied a lot of odds. that kids usually who grew up the way he did don't end up as well as he did.
Ask Dr. Drew
How The Coddled Generation Is Being Set Up To Fail w/ Courtney & Ted Balaker (Producers of “The Coddling Of The American Mind”) + Lionel – Ask Dr. Drew – Ep 430
He went to Yale and graduated. He was in the Air Force, and he has a wonderfully productive, beautiful life, and wrote a great book about his story, and we want to bring it to the screen.
Ask Dr. Drew
How The Coddled Generation Is Being Set Up To Fail w/ Courtney & Ted Balaker (Producers of “The Coddling Of The American Mind”) + Lionel – Ask Dr. Drew – Ep 430
One of the first people we discussed this project with was a very dear friend of ours who's a casting director. She's cast the past few movies that I've directed. And she said something when she read the book, because we were like, we want you to work on this project. And she said something that was really interesting.
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How The Coddled Generation Is Being Set Up To Fail w/ Courtney & Ted Balaker (Producers of “The Coddling Of The American Mind”) + Lionel – Ask Dr. Drew – Ep 430
She said, young boys right now in our current era are looking for real stories about young boys. There's tons of superhero and Marvel movies. Yeah. But you can only relate to that to a certain point.
Ask Dr. Drew
How The Coddled Generation Is Being Set Up To Fail w/ Courtney & Ted Balaker (Producers of “The Coddling Of The American Mind”) + Lionel – Ask Dr. Drew – Ep 430
And we're really excited to make a coming of age movie about a young man who struggled and defied odds, but ultimately just had a very real experience as a young boy, became a very successful, responsible man. And I think that the marketplace apparently is really thirsting for that. So we hope that we can do well and provide. Yeah.
Ask Dr. Drew
How The Coddled Generation Is Being Set Up To Fail w/ Courtney & Ted Balaker (Producers of “The Coddling Of The American Mind”) + Lionel – Ask Dr. Drew – Ep 430
Oh, I don't know if they've seen it yet. I should check in with them to see if they have. I worked with Joseph a long time ago when I was directing off Broadway theater in New York City. It was actually the first stage play he had ever done. He had just come off of a very popular TV show called Third Rock from the Sun, and he had never done theater in New York. It was really cool to work with him.
Ask Dr. Drew
How The Coddled Generation Is Being Set Up To Fail w/ Courtney & Ted Balaker (Producers of “The Coddling Of The American Mind”) + Lionel – Ask Dr. Drew – Ep 430
Amazing. It was totally crazy. So I'd love for him to see Coddling. And yeah, I need to check in with Catherine to see if she's seen it as well. But they were both just delightful and wonderful to work with.
Ask Dr. Drew
How The Coddled Generation Is Being Set Up To Fail w/ Courtney & Ted Balaker (Producers of “The Coddling Of The American Mind”) + Lionel – Ask Dr. Drew – Ep 430
I mean, he's been acting since he was a little kid. You know, he kind of grew up in the Marcy world. Warner, you know, the production company that was making a lot of those sitcoms at the time on NBC and ABC. And so he's been doing it for a long time. And he had never done live theater, as I just mentioned. But when he transitioned to live theater in New York, it was pretty natural. It was funny.
Ask Dr. Drew
How The Coddled Generation Is Being Set Up To Fail w/ Courtney & Ted Balaker (Producers of “The Coddling Of The American Mind”) + Lionel – Ask Dr. Drew – Ep 430
The one thing that he wasn't used to was voice projection, because obviously you're mic'd on a studio set. Yeah. We worked on that, but it is God-given talent. He's got fantastic instincts, and it was a real honor to work with him.
Ask Dr. Drew
How The Coddled Generation Is Being Set Up To Fail w/ Courtney & Ted Balaker (Producers of “The Coddling Of The American Mind”) + Lionel – Ask Dr. Drew – Ep 430
We do a little bit, and it's very well spoken through Jonathan Haidt, actually. You can even track it back to the disappearance of Adam Walsh, which was a horrific kidnapping of a little boy from Sears back in the 70s and the milk carton era. And parents were basically told, your child will be abducted. and instituting this fear. I have it. I'm guilty of it.