I did never mention the word "attachment". Also, to me the attachment is not unhealthy or painful, nor inferring with my life. So I'm not sure whether you're happy with my response. But I can tell you my experience anyways.

I had to work in a different city for three months. At first I thought that meant I couldn't see my T at all during that time. Which to me was the scariest thought in the world. And I let him know that I was scared of that.

During these sessions, he reassured me that he would not leave, that we could have a phone call every week and tried to give me hope that I could make it through.

Then, I started working and realized that I would get a bunch of days off. All of which I used to go to sessions in person. Which meant traveling for over 2 hours.

A friend of mine mentioned that he thinks I "depend" on my therapist, which made me very insecure about the whole thing, so I brought that up. Actually, my T said something along the lines of "does it make you feel safe that you can see me from time to time?" and I replied "yes, but apparently that's not good either". He asked a few questions about that, including "who said that" because I think he noticed that I would never start thinking like that on my own.

Overall, what came from that conversation was that he told me that as long as I felt okay about it, as long as I was happy, felt it helped me come to sessions, everything was fine. He also told me that he thought about the fact that I was coming to sessions a whole lot more than initially discussed (during these three months) and about whether he should allow that. And he came to the conclusion that it would work to not allow it if somebody was more or less stable, but not if someone was as scared as I am of being abandoned.

He mentioned that at some point during my time with him, I will start feeling like I don't need him as much anymore. Like I could go on vacation for two months and never have any contact and then come back and have more sessions, and that would be fine. But he also said that I am nowhere near that stage, and forcing me to be at that stage without actually wanting it would only harm me.

We have, on multiple occasions, also talked about me missing him, seeing him as the only person I trust in life, or similar things.

Overall, I have very positive experience with bringing such stuff up. I always just straight out say what's bothering me. And he always accepts whatever I say, and tries to help me to the best of his abilities.

He never made me feel like being attached is something weird or something that should not happen. He actually encourages me to be attached (in a non-dependent way) to him.

I think if I at some point felt that the attachment was hurting me too much, like you mentioned, I would just go in and say "I think I become too attached to you, XYZ happens and I can't deal with it well." Knowing his style, he would explore with me what exactly was causing me to feel that way, and then we would plan together what we change about sessions or outside contact such that I feel better.

As for transference, this would probably come later, when I feel that the plan is more or less working, then we would explore whether I feel the same way with other people, where it might come from and so on.

Getting attached to your therapist is something that happens to a lot of people in therapy. Therefore, therapists are probably quite used to talking about it. There's nothing wrong about it, and talking about it will most probably help.