L gave me a quote from a poem. The main part she wanted me to focus on is "I am large. And I contain multitudes". L and I have just started talking about my "child parts". She doesn't diagnose it or label it an attachment style. She does agree it's partially maternal transference. The quote was to help comfort me: that we are all human and we are complex. That even my relationship with her is complex. We relate to each other as therapist to client, peer to peer, teacher to student, adult to adult, mother-figure to abandoned-child, etc. We are all multitudes.

I too would be upset if L labeled me an attachment style. Her and I agree: label jars not people. I would feel brushed off and misunderstood. Yes, there's a reason you feel like a child. You can explore that. Or explore why you're having particular transference with him. But to simply re-label it is not helpful imho.