Perna:

> I don't know what your mother did so I cannot really say. But my stepmother was angry, controlling and often abusive,
> physically and emotionally.

My mother acted in such a way as to make me feel that it was life-threatening for me to differ from her in any way. The expression (and thus for a child the mere possession) of any idea that made her afraid was punishable by death -- or so I felt. Those feelings are still present today. As an example, it makes me feel uncomfortable (afraid) even to differ with you! So long-lasting are the effects of childhood terrors.

> Your T doesn't live with you and only sees you an hour a week so it doesn't make a lot of sense, to me, that he would want
> the same things from you that your mother does...

It may not make "sense" to you, but unfortunately, some therapists do want the same kind of control. I have experienced that personally: that some of them are threatened by the patient's attempts at independence, and do stigmatize their patients for such attempts. It happens. I know.

I am needing to know if my present therapist is one of those or not.