I don't know if I've ever considered my thoughts about my therapist in the obsession category--but I certainly think about him a fair amount outside of session. To me, the therapy relationship is an intimate one (albeit one sided and artificial), and as part of a relationship, you naturally want to get to know the other person. My therapist and I are in agreement over the merits of interpersonal psychology, so we're building a relationship, and for me, it's the relationship that helps heal. (He's literally the first person in my life who has ever validated or heard the stories of my childhood abuse, as I'm an only child.) I know some people develop romantic feelings for their therapist, and despite the fleeting times when I realize my therapist is quite handsome--I don't have an romantic feelings towards the man. I think one of the inequities of therapy is that the client has just one therapist (usually), but the therapist has many clients, so one person will naturally think a great deal more about the other in this relationship. I'm also a super observant and naturally curious person, so I've spent a fair amount of time (perhaps more than other patients) researching my therapist. I realize I do this partially to keep myself from getting hurt, to assure myself my therapist is a good a trustworthy person.

I also think Manatee has a good point here (Mantee for president! ) that those thoughts about the therapist can help displace negative or self destructive thoughts. I just realized how often I do that as well, for me, having that positive relationship as a compassionate witness helps validate, and not minimize, my own feelings and experience. (I have a tendency to tell myself and my feelings to shut up and suck it up.)