Tame Your Mood Newsletter
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Feature Article: Q&A
Online Articles
About Marty
Services: Psychotherapy


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 Marty L. Cooper, MFT

4831 Geary Blvd.
San Francisco, CA 94118

martycooper@
mlcooper.com

www.mlcooper.com










































































 


 


 


 


 


 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

February 2011                 Vol. 3, Issue 4 
Greetings!

Greetings! 

Here is the Q&A number 7:  "Is it better to seek private therapy or find a doctor to prescribe a pill that will help?"  This is such a vital question for our current times, when traditional psychotherapy is supposedly at odds with biological approaches to treating depression and anxiety. See below for my quick response to a big question.

I hope you all are enjoying the beginnings of 2011, and finding all the right challenges.

Be well,
Marty
Q:  Is it better to seek private therapy or find a doctor to prescribe a pill that will help? 
  
A:   It is very important to pay attention not just to how we respond to depression, but how we think about depression.  Depression feeds and reifies a limited, concrete view of a complex world and self.  And so with this question:  we can't separate out therapy from biochemistry;  in this complex self of ours, each part affects the whole, and vice versa.  Depression is a systemic disorder which affects (especially when chronic) all parts of our system, our self. 

For example, take the situation where you get a paper back and the instructor has awarded you a "C".  You think, "I'm just not cut out for college!  But if I don't get a degree, I'll be miserable in my life.  But I obviously don't have the capacity..."  Your gut clenches and your heart rate increases.  Your senses narrow and your vision flattened.  Your mind registers the changes in you body, and says, "It's really bad or I wouldn't be responding this way."  You try to think of an answer, but your panic is suppressing your clarity of thought.  That's taken as proof of your incompetence, and that is felt as indication of being existentially endangered ("This is my life forever!").

All parts of the system-thought, feeling, sensation/body, relationship-are involved, so to privilege one over the other is to hobble change. 

 

The real question, then, is not "Therapy or pills," but, "What seems, at this point, to be the main cause/influence of the depression, and what needs attention?"  I was at a period in my life once where, after much work at the level of thought and feeling, depression rose up primarily as a bodily experience.  My various tricks and skills failed in the face of this level of depression, and I was forced to pay more attention to body (exercise, body work therapy, "pills," brain chemistry) than to mind.  But I didn't then just stop working with depressing thoughts, or hard emotions.  Rather, I focused on what was necessary in the moment, and in that moment, it was my body that needed the work.

 

So:  head and heart and body are not opposites, and therefore this either/or question becomes a both/and.
Online Articles
 
Past articles can be found at my articles page by clicking here.
About Marty
Marty L. Cooper, MFT

Marty Cooper is a San Francisco psychotherapist who helps individuals
struggling with anxiety and depression to not only manage these "wild
moods," but eventually learn how to overcome them.  His background in
both Western approaches to healing, as well as Eastern mindfulness
practices (meditation) give a wide range of perspectives and techniques to bring to the work of taming mood. 

Marty's passion arises out of his deep understanding of how painful anxiety and depression can be, and his wish to help others learn how to avoid overwhelm, as well as to find meaning in experience that can otherwise at times just seem pointless.

Joy, connection, and a life not ruled by fear are all truly possible.
Services
 
I offer psychotherapy to those who are wanting to learn deeper and more effective management strategies for their anxiety and depression, as well those who wish to find out how to overcome these wild moods.  I work comprehensively with mental, emotional, bodily, and spiritual dimensions, all of which are necessary to overcome the chronic quality of anxiety and depression.

If you are looking to make changes that last, then please call me and set up an initial phone consultation, so we can see if or how I can best be of service. 

Marty L. Cooper, MFT
415.835.2162
[email protected]