Or . . . some people have a broader definition of love, understand there are many connotations for love, and not all love is equal in its qualities. The support, attention, and validation a therapist can provide is appreciated and acknowledged by some of us and in our personal definition, that feeling we have for those therapists is love, and it is not a creepy or dangerous emotion. I've never had a therapist "push" the idea of "love" or "healing through love" on me, but I do know therapy was healing for me -- life changing in the end -- and much of that is the result of having that support and validation which were qualities I so much loved and appreciated in my therapists. I was the one who left therapy feeling good about myself. My therapy wasn't about them or for them. It was what I did for myself. I did leave therapy very much healed, not BY the "love," but by the work I did through that support and validation that I love my therapists for providing.