And I still question to what degree a therapist should/can nurture. I may look for yet another therapist sometime, but not too soon. There are therapists who are more inclined to bend the rules a little, and that's probably more what I was expecting. I was expecting more of a 'friend', and I only receive that to some degree. She goes overtime in sessions, allows me to text her, and so forth. I'm told the therapist must have a positive regard toward the client, and while the illusion is present that she is cordial and benevolent, I would never truly know how the therapist considers me. I would have guessed it's a rule of thumb that the therapist MUST be a compassionate facilitator, but I'm not even sure how true that is now; not that this therapist is necessarily dispassionate, but there ARE, regrettably, moments where I'd like to see more sympathy. If it's written in stone I'll bring it up.

There is the further complicated angle that I experienced mild transference toward this person initially. But I've come out of that.