I can understand both sides of the "argument", from both the practicionners perspective, as well as the client.

For me personally... I've had 3 counsellors. First one was fairly touchy feely, but I'm that type of person. The second woman, I only remember her holding my hands once when I was in a bad spot emotionally. My current therapist... he's given me a hug (at the end of his term when I thought we'd never see each other again) but beyond that... nothing.

I like physical contact myself... but I could see it could get out of hand if I got it every time I wanted a hug or anything like that.

Interesting reading! I don't remember reading any literature on this (but I may have, although I am a lowly undergraduate psych student, I do a lot of extracurricular reading) but I'll see if anything comes to mind!