In consulting editor Donald L. Cooper, MD, is a team physician for the football and basketall teams and director ofthe Student Health Center at Oklahoma State University. He was appointed by President Reagan to the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, and reappointed by President Bush. He is also popular speaker and humorist.
Dr. Cooper, a Presbyterian layman, became a humorist many years ago after a couple of crippling episodes with depression. ONe episode hospitalized him and brought to the edge of suicide.
He says that his faith, humor, the love and support of his family, exercise, and medication prescribed by a physicial helped him ride out both episodes of depression.
He advises depressed persons to “hang on to your faith” and “cultivate sense of humor.” He says: “Don’t give up. Depression is self-limited, and if you hang on, it will pass.” Says Dr. Cooper: “I give 30 to 40 lectures a year on stress management, and my No. 1 emphasis on managing stress is laughter.”
Dr. Cooper tells jokes and stories endlessly. He observes that the great medical missionary and Nobel Prize winner, Albert Schweitzer, had a keen sense of humor and often told jokes and stories to cheer up his patients.