Tigergirl: Good question. The last time I did "tease" him, I shot off some very snippy remarks about our rupture (this site should be called hernia repair dot com) and was for a change aware of the hostility behind my remarks, which was good, but uncomfortable. I apologized, he said he hadn't noticed. Then I say liar liar pants on fire and he jumps. This is why I "love" him, as skysblue mentioned, this ability to be playful yet serious.

My T and I tend to get very witty with each other....we are a good match that way. There are times when he uses my words against me - and I usually understand where he's coming from or what he's getting at...so it's not much of an issue. It's definitely worth addressing if feelings are coming up for you about it.

Psychotherapy can actually help do that...

My T laughed at me once - don't think T meant to be horrible, or realise exactly how sensitive I am to being teased, but it really hurt. Took me a few weeks to raise it (could only do it by e-mail) T was so sorry and actually I think me raising it was a good thing at that point as I do think it led to me letting down my barriers slightly in that T listended, acknowledged and hasn't done the same laughing thing since.

For me it is the bit about them being human and that the only way they can gain their experience and build on their skills is through work with clients and therefore they can all make mistakes - I've read somewhere recently that the difference between T and your parents is not that T's don't make mistakes, but it is what they do after the mistake that is important.