I agree there may be many stories of success with developing another kind of relationship with ex-Ts. Maybe not so much here on PC given that people mostly post here about challenges and pain, but out there. I personally know two people who developed close relationships with an ex-T - in one case they got married and have been happily married for nearly 10 years now, and in the other case they were kinda loose friends for a while and then just drifted apart. Given that I know the people involved, I can say all of them are reasonably well-adjusted, they don't tend to struggle with dependencies, and have fulfilling lives in- and outside of those relationships with the ex-T. I also have a good friend who is an ex-addict like myself and he had many therapists throughout his life but none of them very long-term. He has one that was more like a friendship and they stayed in touch for a while on social media. He also had one that he found very attractive physically and talked with her apparently a lot like he talks to me, but would never allow himself to engage in those fantasies much and stopping seeing the T was not a problem at all. What I have not heard of is a client that had the kinds of intense attachments and associated cravings and pain many people describe here and developed a satisfying causal connection or good friendship with the ex-T. I also read here on PC ex-client and ex-T engaging in a shared hobby for a while and nothing earthshaking.

I do not believe that the so-called power differential of therapy will inevitably lead to failures and pain in subsequent non-therapy relationships - actually I believe I could do it satisfying myself with someone like my last T if I wanted to and had the opportunity. I think it is a combination of clients with certain predispositions and insecure, irresponsible ex-Ts (not simply irresponsible as a T but not really okay themselves as people) that tend to lead to those bad and hurtful stories. Those stories usually describe stuff where the ex-T took advantage of the ex-client and was clearly very messed up, which can be hard to foresee. Not taking the risk will not lead to that type of experience. I would at least take a look at my interpersonal history - if it is packed with obsessive, imbalanced, abusive etc relationships, I would say there is probably a high risk with that possibility. If someone is not prone to that, I imagine an ex-T, simply by being a T for a while to the person, will not make an outstanding difference although it is not impossible. I also think it may depend on the actual life state of both people - if they go through a very difficult period with serious unresolved issues, I think it's best to stay away from adding that risk.

I have never engaged in friendship or romance with ex-Ts but did quite a few times with people I first met in a professional context, e.g. as teacher and other mentors (that scenario also has clear roles and power differential). They all ended up really interesting, mostly positive, mutually respectful and constructive relationships; they did not last forever but I was never one expecting relationships to last forever and I tend to move on myself. The one I really regret was when I engaged in a complex personal relationship with a student as a mentor originally - that was during a time I was very messed up myself and it's also a scenario that does not tend to be appealing to me normally beyond transient fantasies that are mostly pleasant. It did not lead to any disaster or serious hurt but was very uncomfortable for a while after everything ended in a series of ugly conflicts coming from both of us' issues. There is no way on Earth I would ever do it again with a trainee. So, again, I think the outcomes is determined by a combination of people involved and the larger context. I would not dare to predict such outcomes to anyone other than myself.