Yes! I relate to this thread--oh, SO much do I think about the "fakeness" of the therapeutic relationship, and wish it were different. I've struggled with this problem with all of my Ts--5 of them, so much that it's become THE main issue of my therapy.

I know that the relationship is special in its own way, and if T were my friend, it wouldn't work. I know all about transference and wishing she were my mother at times. I intellectually know all of that, but sitting there in the room with her, something happens and I can't stop it. Or, it happens later. Therapy is triggering!

My T tries to be there for me, and does a lot of extra things to show me that she cares. But the reality is that today she's going out-of-town with her family and I'm not part of her life. I'm allowed to know where she's going and why, and what day she's coming back. But the reality is that the boundaries are there and they hurt.

It doesn't seem fair that we have this intimate relationship but, not really. WHO is our T anyway? We know a lot about them just by being with them weekly for maybe years. How can we not know? We show them our lives, our pictures, our families, our souls, but they only show back on a limited basis. THAT'S the reality.

It's difficult for me to be in a relationship like that yet I know my T is helping me by being a professional and not anything else. But sometimes the lines blur because she's first of all a human, just like me and you. It's very, very strange.