Moonkin, your therapist isn't supposed to be your friend. I know--it can be so confusing to be so close to someone but not be their friend. I've been in therapy for 10 months with my current T, and sometimes still have trouble with being so close to someone whose role in my life is as a professional. Do you think you can learn to be close to someone who is not your friend? The closeness has a lot of similarities to being friends but is unique in other ways, some of them wonderful. You will not replicate this very special relationship with your friends. I hope you will be able to take advantage of this wonderful opportunity that therapy can offer. Just take it slow and don't expect to accept it overnight.

My T only very occasionally touches me (shakes my hand, a squeeze around the shoulders, a rare hug), but when he does it, he is still my therapist, not my friend.