When I read your post I had a million feelings come up. I had this situation with a T who sat behind a big desk and pretty much gave me the same sentence as your T gave you, "This is where I feel comfortable doing therapy." End of story. Oh, and she did add, "It sets a boundary for me and the patient." I felt awful. Also like I had been kicked in the stomach and I hated her for her rigidity and inability to be close to me. I needed help, not to work around her issues in the room. Now, Im not saying this about your therapist at all, but I learned a great deal about her from this situation. I ended up leaving. And the desk was a red flag for me that pointed to so many other issues with her.

I agree that its a good idea to have a dialog with T about all of the things you wrote. If I had to do it again, I would have gotten VERY specific about why it is important for her to sit on the other side of the moon from me. It made me feel dirty and disgusting. And she expected me to understand.

I agree with you, only because I have been there in a very uncomfortable way just as you are, that he could have handled himself differently and why didnt he? Now, he could really step up and do good work about what this means for you. My previous therapist didnt. She set a boundary and seemed to believe that was what I needed with no uncomfortable explanations on her part. I felt manipulated. And that was certainly disrespectful. I am really looking forward to hearing how he handles this in your next sessions. I learned from PC that there are some therapists that set more "distant" kinds of boundaries and that doesnt make them bad Ts, it just seems to hinge on what you need at this point in time.

I could go on and on...but I wont...what did T say when you said to him, "You suck"? Oh, the things I wish I had said to Desk-T!