My ex therapist would have tried to clarify the statement also, maybe by asking the same question, "Do you mean validation?" I was changing over time, and my answers also changed, so yes she did ask the same questions over time, in addition to making the same statements over time to get them to sink in. I was slow on the uptake. She got it wrong lots of times. No I did not lose faith in her abilities. I went from not trusting her to trusting her a lot. She didn't give up like most people did in trying to understand me, and I did not have a need to give up on her. For quite some time she was my internal attachment figure, even after therapy ended.