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silver_queen said:
How do you bond with a stranger? Aren't you afraid that he might appear to take you seriously, but inside be laughing at you or something? I realize that you build up a 'therapeutic relationship' but isn't it a rather false one?

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Haha, I have to make a reply to this because it reminds me of me and my T. I always tell him that inside he's probably like, "There's no hope for her; just get her out of here..." The other day I cried a bit and I told him, "Don't expect me to start bawling." He said, "I might start bawling..." And I was like, "Oh, you are going to laugh so hard, you will start to cry?" It takes quite awhile to build up that trust with a therpaist. But there is a certain point, in which you know they are sincere. And that they really are crying with you inside, or feeling angry when you're angry (with you, not at you, lol), or feeling excited when you're excited...

The therapeutic relationship isn't false-- it's unique. It's unlike any relationship that you will ever have. But it is quite real. There are strong emotions involved on both the part of the client and the therapist.