Yes, even if they have lied and betrayed you, although I sometimes think some may use that word "betrayed" a bit too loosely. I've suffered very few REAL betrayals in my life, and I reserve those to people who truly and intentionally abused me, physically, mentally, or emotionally. Have there been others who have hurt me emotionally perhaps but they weren't really intentionally motivated in that direction? Absolutely.

I think we are quick to jump to the conclusion that if we are hurt, the person set out to "do" that to us from the very beginning. Actually, I think most of the time, people just screw up and don't realize until after the fact that their actions were harmful. I don't really consider that a deliberate betrayal. It's a f-up. Have I been guilty of that kind of thing myself? Of course. We all have.

Can you say that the incidents you call "betrayals" were really intentionally motivated from the onset to hurt you? That these people woke up one day and said, "I'm going to do this because I want to cause Mona harm"? My guess is that most weren't; most were just really tragic f-ups. Some of the things I've seen you define as "intentional" honestly didn't seem intentionally motivated to cause you harm; they definitely ended up that way. These people did screw up, but it seems that you may jump to the idea that people set out to harm you from the onset rather than they just screwed up and ended up hurting you. I see those as two very different things.

I can generally get beyond a screw up, even a very major one, even a very hurtful one, knowing that I am just as flawed and prone to error in judgement as the next guy. I don't see therapists as being on some pedestal that makes them impervious to screw ups; therefore, sometimes they will screw up. I don't particularly see the therapist relationship as any different when it comes to the need to repair and move on. I think in that ability comes a great deal of learning and strengthening and growing.