A Smiling Depression

Not all people with depression look particularly depressed. Many people struggle through feeling bad on the inside whilst maintaining a mask of smiling and being jolly on the outside. Their pain is often a secret pain without witnesses. In this session, Andrew T. Austin demonstrates a content free method of working with a client with a history of depressive illness. Without overtly exploring the client’s story and personal history, Austin uses the core algorithms that lay at the heart of integral eye movement therapy to begin a profound process of change and self exploration. Whilst seemingly doing little more than the eye movement exercises, the client is led through a structured interview, beginning first with a simple recollection of a minor but troublesome memory before moving rapidly into the deep underlying emotional states that drive the depression.

Incorporated into this interview, Austin introduces the client to two key elements of what he terms, “The Patterns of Chronicity” which better enables the client to follow the change work without inadvertently “blocking” the work. In his characteristic and unconventional style, Austin delivers much of the change work before asking the client what the problem is. It is at this point in the interview that he changes direction to begin exploring aspects of identity and personal growth. In exploring identity, Austin hits upon a number of archetypal themes

including people pleasing, masks, aging, difficult relationships and self esteem. One week after the interview, the client wrote, “After filming, I had rather a leisurely afternoon and was quite agitated, but not depressed. The following day I felt very agitated, I was expecting to feel depressed but didn’t - I felt slightly confused and was a bit clumsy. Today, I feel good, not depressed or expecting to feel depressed. I have good mental clarity and for the first time in a very long time, my head is not filled with foggy meaningless crap!!”