Thread: Love vs. Care
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Old Aug 17, 2019, 11:22 PM
maybeblue maybeblue is offline
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Member Since: Jan 2018
Location: USA
Posts: 816
As a therapist I love my clients. As a client I love my therapist too. Those types of love are very different. The client loving the therapist needs to feel accepted and cared for despite having shared the things that she hates most about herself. It's a deep trust that the therapist won't hurt her intentionally. The therapist who loves a client has to be very careful not to abuse that client's trust. She cannot need the client's love for her own self-esteem. She can't allow herself to rely on the client for support. She has to put the client's needs in front of her own. That said it is really hard to have a client share deep personal things with you and not love them. I was not able to manage it, and I'm not sure I would have been much good to them if I had. But I only told one of them and it was only because she asked. Some therapists will not say it ever because they believe it is unethical. Personally I think if they are decent therapists they feel it, but the word "love" can be misunderstood and scary to some people.

I know that you want to be loved by your therapist and believe me I understand why. But she might be the kind of therapist who doesn't say that word to clients and if so I bet she doesn't say it to any of them. But even if she doesn't say it, she may very well still feel it. Try to think about other things that she says and the way that she acts toward you.
Thanks for this!
GeekyOne, LonesomeTonight, ScarletPimpernel, Taylor27