Well, I also go to a T and he has invalidated me more times than I can remember. I don't think all T's understand that what most people want is to be validated. No one is going to validate my feelings if I want to harm someone of course. A lot of the things that I need validation for are pretty innocent. I got pretty irked at my T a bunch of times. Then I found myself trying to validate him as you were doing. This is not right on my part. I am not in therapy to validate my T. I am there to learn trust. If I don't trust my T how am I going to learn to trust others?

I see your point here. I am learning that my life has made me pretty strong willed and it has been for a purpose but I am now realizing that I need to accept the things that I cannot change and try my best to take in that what makes sense to me. I am still going to put myself out there and say what I need to say and if it gets a response I do not like, I will weigh it and continue to learn how to trust until my last breath. I have decided that I don't need a perfect T or one who is going to agree with me. I need to extract what help he can give me so I can grow.

I feel like I am selling myself a little short but I do not think I am going to find a mental health professional who can really care to the extent that would be optimal so I am settling for learning what I can.

I am sorry if I couldn't be of much help. Thank you for making me think about my own experience with my T.

I have forgiven my T, yes. It doesn't mean that I like his behavior, but yes.