Okay, maybe I need to move to Sweden or the UK for a better chance of authentic/non-creepy interaction.

I googled just now and found studies on tone and voice of psychiatrists as predictors of patient adherence. Oddly, the one study I looked at indicated that the modulated (re: creepy *ss voice) has been proven to be the most effective.

I don't think I have much choice in this with pdocs, but I would really draw the line with a therapist who does this. It's just very hard to find.