A therapist said he had depressed for months and when he told me he was working in a residential agency with a lot of depressed clients, we spoke about how we can pick up moods from others. The image of velcro appeared. He stood up and began dancing around the room saying “I’m velcro man, I’m velcro man”. There was no sign of depression.

A week later he reported that the depression had returned, so I offered the idea that any sudden change can be a shock, and a more gradual way might be longer lasting - jet lag, a fast decent in a lift are problematic because of the speed of change. He accepted this and was willing to slow the change down by alternating good and bad days. 10 days later he was surprised to discover that he had been feeling good every day! I chided him, saying that he’d promised me 5 bad days, so he owed them to me. I insisted that he pay me back and take all the time he needed to do this. He still owes me.

Rob McNeilly