“It’s You I Like”: Mere Psychotherapy, Part 1

Depression is the inability to construct a future.

Depression is the inability to construct a future.
~ Rollo May

In graduate school I heard a story about R.D. Lang that he once laid down in a patient’s feces with them, taking the Rogerian concept of “meeting your patient where they’re at” to the literal extreme. This story, true or not, was the first thing that came to my mind when I first met Jonathan.

Jonathan’s caretakers are his grandparents as his mother (who also lives in the home) struggles with a profound developmental delay herself. During the first session I note the countless scars and bruises on the grandmother’s arms which gave credence to her concerns about her and her husband's physical safety given Jonathan’s biological age (18) and corresponding body in addition to increasing aggressive behaviors.

While I have some formal training in play therapy, I have none in treating autism and fully disclose this to the family. The agency I work for, in a very rural area, had been contacted because Jonathan had entered a depressive …