Hello,

I am new to these forums, although I have lurked for awhile to gain perspective and input. I have been seeing my current therapist for about 6 months now, and I generally think he's been very helpful to me. However, I've started to feel like I am too attached to him. I really, really like him and I wish that we could at least be friends. Sometimes I feel he is sort of like a cool dad, other times I feel almost like a romantic love.

In any case, I've started to feel bad if he doesn't respond to my texts or emails right away. Although, I know he prefers to chat on the phone and has even called me on weekend nights when I am having a crisis, which I appreciated. And, I'm even a bit jealous of his other clients, thinking he likes them more or something. I feel like he has started to withdraw or act a bit detached now, maybe that he sees I'm becoming attached to him and it's very painful. In reference to something I said to him, he said that sounded "demanding", before he kind of corrected himself. So I think maybe he thinks I'm too demanding. Like, he doesn't seem as willing to answer emails or get into text discussions. And we never really discussed boundaries up-front, so I don't know if I'm bothering him.

But I noticed it is a pattern with other relationships that when I start to get attached to someone I always think they probably secretly hate me if they don't respond right of way. Or that they don't want to talk to me and start to back off when I start needing them. So, what are some strategies to break this pattern and relieve some of my anxiety when T doesn't respond? It's really hard to contain my emotions when I only see him once per week and it's hard to focus on other things that I need to be doing when I'm worried about waiting on a response. I tend to get somewhat obsessive over it. But, if he does respond it makes my day.

Thank you for reading!