I remember how weird it felt when first cried in front of a therapist. The therapist was kind but mostly just sat there attentively while I lost my s**t a little. It's not like crying in front of a sympathetic friend who wants to comfort you. Later on I figured out that the point is to explore what is distressing you, not shut it down. You have to open up to whatever is making you cry and dig into it a little. For me, being comforted (like with a hug) tends to make me feel better precisely because it closes off those feelings. That's why we have the urge to hug a crying friend, right? To make them feel better, at least temporarily.

My current T usually looks a little bit different when I cry, like her eyes go all soft and sympathetic. It makes me feel like she's very much still there with me in the moment. It's subtle and not at all the same as a hug or a pat (which I would probably not welcome from her), but it is something. It's also kind of nice to cry and not have it be disruptive to what we're doing or for me to be made to feel that it's shameful or awkward for me to be doing it.