How well do you know your therapist?

I'm asking because my thinking is this: my therapist listens to me, focuses on me, and is unflappably gentle with me, the whole time I spend with him. If I started to feel like I was falling for him, that would make sense, especially if I were physically attracted. But - I don't really know him. I don't know what he's like when he walks out of his office, I don't know what he's like when he's cranky and tired and needy. I don't deal with his needs the way his friends and family do. Since I only know his professional face, I'd be feeling love for his professional face, and that gets into transference territory.

I do believe there's a kind of real love that develops with therapists and clients who work together for a long time, but that it is contained in the therapeutic frame and within the appropriate boundaries. I don't think that is transference. They feel different.

My .02.