I am glad you are no longer with this T and are filing a lawsuit against him, as his behavior was totally out-of-line and abusive. He should lose his license for taking advantage of you like that. He probably did it with other clients too!

He was totally wrong if he made you think that touching you would heal your trauma. Maybe the touch on your shoulder was okay, and possible holding your hand, but these should have done with your full permission and with a discussion of it before he ever touched you. Obviously, he was meeting his needs, not yours. I don't think touch is fairly common in therapy at all. He sounds like a manipulative person who has major problems of his own!

I do think touch can have a place in therapy, though. I've only seen women Ts and none of them ever touched me until my current T. We talked about what a baby/child part of me needed, and she let me hold her hand. It was healing to me, and in no way out-of-line. She gives hugs to clients, but hasn't hugged me because I'm not comfortable with it.

People on this forum will tell you that their male Ts hug them, and it's appropriate. But the behavior of your T, going further than that, and lying on the couch is not appropriate. Those are red flags.

Are you going to see a new T? I hope that you find one who is competent and will not take advantage of you. You deserve to have that!