MASIMO if my psychiatrist used the wording that your T did, my mind would have gone to exactly the same place. When dealing with this subject matter, T's have to be so careful and use language that is as neutral as possible. Because the fact is that in a T-Client relationship, anything sexual, romantic or even friend like is not a remote possibility. So to phrase it as "we can't, it would be a bad idea" opens the door for that "under different circumstances" line of thinking. Those are not the circumstances, so why even address it? It's not helpful and only encourages romantic feelings on your end, it certainly would for me. I think therapy is intimate, but it is a different kind and very one sided. It is much more intimate for the patient and I think T's forget this sometimes...They have many clients who they sincerely care about. But to the clients, they are IT- the only one. So their feelings for us are not with the same level of intensity, it can't be. If it were, then it would be impossible for them to be objective and effective. I agree that therapists can be kind of dense about how to talk about the issue of intimacy with patients (especially the males). I don't think they always get just how deeply their words resonate with us.