My therapist really listens and validates, he is calm and doesn't "absorb or argue" with me. He is open minded and if I bring him an article or information that I come across, he will read it and we discuss it. He never treats me as though I am beneath him and he isn't condescending. When I am with him I feel he listens and "believes" me and that has been important to my healing. We also discuss the dysfunctional people around me in my life and he actually sees the way I have been unfairly treated and emotionally abused.

When I was overwhelmed with all the damage I had to address, I was so physically and mentally exhausted and in desperate need of grief counseling. What I kept begging for was rest and I had a picture in my mind of a quiet place near a beach with a presence there that I could talk to that would listen and help me sort out how to deal and grieve the magnitude of what was lost and what it really meant to me. Well, it took me 4 years to finally find the right T, before that I was misdiagnosed and misunderstood and even mistreated and invalidated.

I do not have any romantic feelings for my T at all. I just see him as a caring intelligent man that will listen, stay calm, and knows how to help me slowly work through years of psychological and emotional abuse.

OE