At this festive time of the year, some of my patients bring me gifts. I have received an assortment of items over the years, including cans of beer, a deodorant (I did take a sniff of myself after the patient left), cakes, chocolate, fruit baskets and handicrafts made by them.

One patient, an older woman with depression whose hobby of cross-stitching was her only pleasurable activity, gave me a framed piece of her work of flowers, which I hung by the door of the consultation room. Each time she came for her appointment, and after we talked about her enduringly unsolvable problems, she would, on her way out, invariably pause and look at her cross-stitched flowers – and smile.