(Tree)
I think the feelings of love are a natural evolution of the therapeutic relationship. After all, there is nothing at all in the world like the intimacy of the therapeutic relationship. And we grew up thinking that there were a finite number of relationships available, friend, lover, parent, child, husband, relatives. And then we find ourselves in a relationship that we don't know how to categorize. We might say, "hmmm, where does this belong?" On top of all that, we may have grown up in a family where intimacy = sex because of the acting out of the adults around us who were supposed to be teaching us how to have healthy relationships; and all that leads to a great big heap of confusion, because we became conditioned to think that dysfunction was the norm. What we are learning is that intimate relationships can exists without sexualized acting out. I think you are amazing in your ability to articulate your frustrations and curiosity.