The Man in Black: How Johnny Cash (and My Therapy Uniform) Teach Us About Containment
TL;DR: Like Johnny Cash, I wear black for a reason. It’s not a style choice but a signal, something the unconscious recognises. Consistency of tone and presence builds safety in therapy. Cash wore black for those who were unseen; I wear it to hold space for what’s unspoken.
Psychotherapist Rick Cox reflects on how Johnny Cash’s Man in Black and the consistency of the therapist’s uniform communicate safety and depth in therapy.
The Song and the Symbol
In 1971, Johnny Cash released “Man in Black.”
He sang about the forgotten, the imprisoned, and the grieving. His black clothing became a quiet protest, an act of empathy for those carrying invisible pain.
That gesture resonates with me in psychotherapy. He embodied what so many people need: someone who doesn’t look away. Someone who can stand with suffering without trying to fix or disguise it.
The Therapist’s Uniform
Over time, I’ve realised I do something similar.
Each time I sit for a session, I wear black, always the same tone, always the same simplicity. What began as practical has become symbolic.
Clients notice it. They might not mention it, but their nervous system does.
The sameness becomes a quiet anchor, a sign that the person across from them is steady.
That consistency helps when the work becomes intense. When we touch fear, rage, or grief, something in the client registers: this person isn’t moving away. The steadiness becomes part of the therapeutic frame, a subtle reassurance that the depth won’t drown them.
The View from the Cot
One of my first supervisors once said…
“You’re doing what Freud called the view from the cot.”
That phrase stayed with me.
It captures what the infant experiences when they look up from the cot, the early need for a face that’s reliable, for presence that doesn’t vanish or change shape.
In therapy, that same primitive hope returns. The black shirt, the calm tone, the consistency, they recreate a fragment of that early environment where safety was uncertain.
Each repetition tells the client’s unconscious: this time, you can look and not lose.
Black as the Colour of Depth
Black absorbs everything. It doesn’t compete, it holds.
In Jungian psychology, black is the colour of the unconscious, where transformation begins.
In psychodynamic work, it’s the frame that allows strong emotion to surface without chaos.
For me, wearing black isn’t about blending in or standing out. It’s about staying grounded in presence, a simple way of saying this space can hold whatever comes.
What It Means for Clients
When clients see me, what they feel often arrives before words do.
The consistent colour, tone, rhythm, they all say:..
“You don’t have to manage me.
You don’t have to perform.
You’re safe to feel.”
Therapy works in these subtleties.
We create conditions where what was unbearable can finally be met.
Black, in its quiet way, becomes part of that containment, an emblem of reliability, and a reminder that even shadow can be held without fear.