When reading this: "But then it really didn't feel right to me (any more than it would hugging my GP). " it dawned on me that I actually DO hug my physical doctor. I only see him once a year, but when I first started seeing him, he did an operation that saved me a huge amount of pain from some internal scaring due to the early childhood abuse. I had to explain to him a very small amount of my past trauma because he wanted to know how I ended up with that type of injury when it was not normal at all. When I told him, he had such a look of compassion. He asked me if he could give me a hug and I was very glad to get one. So now once a year at the end of the exam when we are saying good bye, he smiles and gives me a sideways hug.

It is so strange how people have different needs in this area. And until just now, I never even thought twice about THAT hug!