| Tame Your Mood Newsletter Archive |
Welcome to the archive for past issues of the Tame Your Mood Newsletter,
a monthly offering of thoughts about managing and overcoming anxiety
and depression. TYM is published by Marty L. Cooper, MFT, a
psychotherapist practicing in San Francisco, focusing on the treatment
of depression and anxiety from a mindfulness perpective (see www.mlcooper.com for more information). |
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- August 2015--"Depression and the Challenge of Savoring"
- --Looking at how important the cultivation of pleasure is when healing from depression.
- July 2015--Pixar's "Inside Out" and Depression (plus audio version)
- --Exploring the film "inside Out" through the lens of depression.
- February 2015--"The Coffee on the Corner Voice" (plus audio version)
- --A look at that part of us that helpfully warns against putting the coffee right there at the edge.
- January 2015--"What Emotions are Trying to Tell Us"--(plus audio version)
- --A "taxonomy" of the categorical emotions, what they are and what they are trying to signal. Also, with an audio reading of the article.
- October 2014--"Void vs. Emptiness"
- --Concerning the critical discernment between the experience of Void and Emptiness.
- September 2014--Audio Talk
- --My recent audio talk/webinar: "Depression and the Fundamentals of Healing"
- August 2014--"The Stalling of Grief"
- --What we are meaning when we say, "I can't believe!"
- July 2014--"Anger is Your Friend"
- --Anger as a necessary resource and protector.
- June 2014--"Energy Theft"
- --Toxic shame and guilt as "energy theft."
- May 2014--"Oxygen Choices--The Knobs and Dials of Depression"
- --A focus on how we inevitably have to make "oxygen choices" in deciding how to manage and use our own energy.
- April 2014--"Depression and Energy"
- --An exploration of the way in which depression is an unforgiving monitor of energy.
- March 2014--"Grief: From Pain to Poignancy"
- --A description of the necessary path of grief.
- February 2014--"Why Sunshine Can Scare You"
- --Making sense of how we can react to things...that don't make sense to react to.
- January 2014--Normon Solomon's Talk on Depression
- --A wonderful talk by Norman Solomon, and some thoughts on its important parts.
- December 2013--"Slowing Down"
- --A very practical, and literal, resource to counteract the overly-speedy.
- November 2013--"Self-Regulation as the Inner Tube on the River of Life"
- --A (slightly silly) metaphor for the delicate balance of self-regulation.
- October 2013--"Finding Energy when Feeling Exhausted"
- --Using myself as an example of how we can build energy by starting small.
- September 2013--"The Education of a Depressive, pt. 2"
- --The second half of the stages of healing from depression, from grad school through post-grad.
- August 2013--"The Education of a Depressive, pt. 1"
- --The first half of the stages of healing from depression, from grade school through college.
- June 2013--"The Nervous System Salve Checklist"
- --On attending to the needs of our nervous system, by whatever means available.
- May 2013--"April is the Cruelest Month"
- --How pleasure of elemental experiences is crushed by depression.
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- April 2013--The "Beloved" as Anti-Depressant
- --On the idea and experience of the "Beloved," where profound meaning pokes through the mundane.
- March 2013--Teachers, Conscious and Unconscious
- --Concerning the manifold "unconscious teachers" in our lives, and the wealth of unintended teachings they have for us.
- January 2013--The Problem of Open Loops
- --Managing overwhelm is a problem when there are too many open loops.
- December 2012--What is Shame?
- --The nature and function of this pervasive, and generally invisible, experience.
- November 2012--Holiday Survival Tips & Free Audio
- --More tips for surviving the holidays.
- November 2012--The Past Pretending to be the Present
- --More tips for surviving the holidays.
- September 2012--Confessing Greatness & Upcoming MBCT Class (9/16)
- --An exercise in owning one's "golden shadow".
- August 2012--The Wobble of Progress
- --Why development is linear, but not straight forward.
- June 2012--Why do Buddhists get depressed?
- --A look at a common misconception about practice.
- May 2012--Mother is Not Negotiable
- --A look at the inescapable human need for being mothered.
- April 2012--What is Safety?
- --A look at the "necessary illusion" of safety.
- March 2012--"Transphilia" Explained
- --Further discussion of depression as "attractive of transformation".
- February 2012--Depression as "Transphilic"
- --The transformative core of depression and anxiety.
- December 2011: De-pressurizing the Holidays
- --Tips for the holidays.
- November 2011: Cultivating Spaciousness
- --The process of finding and cultivating a sense of spaciousness in one's life.
- October 2011: The Four Stages of Acceptance
- --A mini-map of how acceptance unfolds.
- September 2011: Depression: From Futility to Acceptance
- --Five ways we keep ourselves in chronic stress.
- August 2011: What is Depression?
- --A down-and-dirty description of depression.
- July 2011: Games vs. Grimness
- --Looking at depression from the perspective of what makes games tick.
- June 2011: The Problem with Rumination (Q&A)
- --On the way in which rumination feeds depression.
- May 2011: Language and Mood (Q&A)
- --Thoughts on the question, "I have always been unhappy, but I don't want to be."
- April 2011: Symptoms and Self-Blame (Q&A)
- --Addressing the question: "When I feel depressed, I sleep...a lot. What's wrong with me that I can't just go outside and enjoy the sunshine?"
- February 2011: "Therapy or Pills?" (Q&A)
- --Addressing this question: "Is it better to seek private therapy or find a doctor to prescribe a pill that will help?"
- January 2011: "Why am I So Embarrassed To Seek Out Therapy?" (Q&A)
- --"Why am I embarrassed about seeking therapy (I don't have a problem with going to the doctor for a broken arm...)?"
- December 2010: "Why is Depression So Destructive?" (Q&A)
- --Thoughts on the question: "Why is my depression so destructive?"
- November 2010: "When to Seek Therapy?" (Q&A)
- --Addressing the question: "As an individual, how do I know when I really need professional help?"
- October 2010: "When to Seek Out Support?" (Q&A)
- --This month's question: "How do I know when it's time to call a friend for help?"
- September 2010: "Any Therapist Will Do?" (Q&A)
- --Thoughts on: "Can any therapist help with any problem?"
- August 2010: "Can I just depend on God?" (Q&A)
- --Can we depend only on our faith for cure of depression?
- July 2010: "Will Depression Just Dissipate?" (Q&A)
- --This month's question, first of the Q&A series: "If I do nothing, will depression go away like other ailments?"
- November 2009: Maps of Mood
- --The article for this issue is a short piece on the importance of good maps in healing from chronic anxiety or depression.
- September 2009: Surrender comes in Waves
- --Thoughts on the subject of surrender: "It doesn't (almost ever) come in one fell swoop. Surrender is something that comes in waves. You don't surrender (i.e., relinquish control) once and are done with it."
- • May 2009: Getting the "Penthouse": Experimentation vs. Success
- --This month, a discussion on the importance, when healing depression, of focusing on experimentation rather than success-or-failure.
- April 2009: Life During Wartime: 7 Thoughts and Tips
- --This month's article is on how to actively engage depression in a way that's not counter-productive. Because as important as the work of mindfulness is, there's much to be said in being active with depression
- February 2009: Control vs. Surrender
- --The article in this month's newsletter is about the difference between "control" and "surrender." There are many ways in which attempts at control (or "fixing") can actually be effective, but that's almost never the case with anxiety and depression.
- November 2008: Hope: Realistic and Grounded
- --With anxiety and depression, hope often ends up being pitched overboard, where it bobs along as something you can make out against the waves, but which you can't hold in your hands. So the article this month is about hope: what it is, and how it can elude us.
- October 2008: Why Does Mindfulness Work?
- --This month's newsletter focusses on the question: Why does mindfulness work. (A perhaps snarkier way of phrasing that: why bother practicing?) Basically the answer is that practicing mindfulness builds a good, portable mother.
- September 2008: Politics as Inquiry into "Macros and Micros"
- --This article looks at how to use macro level issues--in this case, the presidential race--to explore micro level (personal) issues.
- August 2008: Love as a Resource, Love as a Practice
- --The focus of this month's article concerns what the Buddhists refer to as metta practice, the practice of "loving kindness." Love is both a state of being, and a response to our experience, and can be cultivated into the best kind of habit. Love tends to trump fear, and since there is often so much fear in anxiety and depression, it acts, as a practice, to stop the spiraling quality of these moods.
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- June 2008: Skillful Dependence: The Courage to Take Support
- --A discussion of the difference between "skillful" and "unskillful" dependence. "In psychotherapy, I think of the movement towards 'skillful dependence' as largely a matter of making small declarations of one's needs, and then taking the risk of allowing others to support you."
- May 2008: Learning to Love Conflict
- --"Who fully and whole-heartedly loves the experience? Not many, in my experience. But I do believe that it's possible to meet conflict as a friend and not an enemy--or at least a tolerable but unwelcome visitor--and that the rewards are great in forging, or refining, this kind of peaceful acceptance of conflict."
- April 2008: Letting the Universe Answer Questions
- --Here is a discussion of the difference between real inquiry into an issue, and questions which are actually masked emotions.
- March 2008: Anxiety and Personality: Where the Roots are Rooted
- --An article on the personality traits underlying chronic anxiety, and some thoughts on how to organize a plan of "recovery."
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Marty L. Cooper
4831 Geary Blvd.
San Francisco, California 94118
(415) 937-1620
martycooper@mlcooper.com
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