Difficult to know what to say really but that is sorta the topic overall in a way and the way the thread is reading. I'll try something completely off the wall and see.

Once my therapist just said to me, "I don't really like you right now."

Just like that. No warning, no prep, no soft pedaling, just straight out with it, and no real explanations after either. And certainly no apology. He meant it. I was being a total pain and he had reached his limit.

We never discussed it but it sure stood out. See, he could only say that if he felt that first we had a solid relationship that would not break over something like that. And if he had belief that I would not break over it either. It didn't actually bother me that he said he didn't like me; I actually don't really care all that much about being liked, much for the same reasons as you, or parallel in a way at least. It simply hasn't been part of my life that being liked was something that happened all that much. There are different reasons, and they are not the same as yours, but I think maybe the general experience has something in common with anyone who feels alienated, has been rejected or outcast or lied to or whatever has happened with people so that they are just not reliable.

So my therapist, knowing this history of mine, still said, "you know what, I don't really like you." What would you do with that? is that what you would prefer to hear? or is it more about her evaluation of others whom she just really doesn't know so can't really say much about unless you've provided lots of details.

I actually really learned from my therapist saying this to me. It stung because at the time horrible things were happening and everyone was being a ****, so for him to add to it felt awful. But he could only say that if he trusted me and the relationship. And that he was taking as real, not based on money, but real like any other relationship, where you fight and don't like what people say or do and finally get pissed off enough to say something.

He didn't baby me. He didn't pretend everything was okay. He didn't pretend at all. Therapists aren't governed by money. They actually don't make all that much given how much they have to do. It really isn't for the money. It may be for something else that doesn't feel real, but there are therapists who are in it for the real stuff. Be careful because you may get what you wish for. But then for me, I actually ended up appreciating this and now feel fondly about it. It did take balls to do though. Or just plain being fed up.