Thanks again for your replies. So today I told my T about how I kept repeating what he said to comfort myself and he said: "I just felt really upset when I heard that. In my head I just threw my arms around you." (We don't touch so that was a safe way for him to hug me.)

We talked about how I am currently seeking his approval and validation, and how I shouldn't do that forever - that it wouldn't be right if he let me get 'stuck'. He told me he used to have stomach aches every day, and he used to ask his mum every day if they would go away, and she kept saying yes, which was reassuring but didn't actually solve the problem.

So basically I need to learn to stop asking if the stomach ache will go away, and actually get rid of the stomach ache.

And he told me I needed to (gradually) learn to trust my own opinion, and I told him no, he was wrong, I wasn't able to trust my own opinion. Er, that would be an opinion of my own right there, ironically! He's crafty...