I agree with SD and Blanche. I think that Ts do things to illicit certain reactions in order to promote conversations and healing (hopefully). I guess my struggle is in the way the question was asked in the title. "Intentionally triggered." I don't know that I would say that this is the goal of the T.

I would agree with you that the scheduling has brought up abandonment feelings within you. I'm dealing with some pretty strong abandonment feelings surrounding my T right now. Do I think that he took a 5 week vacation to open old wounds within me? Do I think he forgot to schedule me when he said he would to help me heal? No to both.

However, I think these moments can be really instrumental in a great dialogue about the feelings you're having. I was an emotional disaster in my last session talking about the vacation, but it led to a really cathartic release about some of the parental abandonment feelings I have. It illustrated to me how deeply that feeling of loss influences my life in some really unhealthy ways. So it's given me something to work on, and hope that it can get better.