I haven't considered the idea that my therapist is a friend, though we are friendly even affectionate. It seems to be so clearly a defined relationship, regardless of how informal he is with me. He has self-disclosed enough that I know him pretty well over the years. Still I know that regardless of what happens during session time, outside that, we each have our own very different lives.

I do believe that this therapist knows me in a way that I have never been known before, with depth and complexity that I attribute both to the school of therapy as well as to the therapist himself. I have a committed long term relationship where I am also known and understood, but in a different way. They just can't really be compared. Both are very important and meaningful. I think since the therapeutic relationship is newer to me and feels more deliberately focused on the idea of knowing me in an authentic way, it feels like a way of being known and understood that is unusual so stands out. It is also more intense and less prone to ordinary problems. In that way, I hold it as special.