I'm old school on this topic.

IMO, if the T is male, and the client is female, there is no place for touch. When I read scenarios involving touch, my mind says, "and why was touch required for that to be accomplished?". Touch seems like the easy way out of the hard work. Learning to be loved without a physical relationship is important to trauma victims,."Can't you love me and support me without using my body?"

I understand the importance of learning good touch - but IMO, that should be done with a same sex T, and within our real life intimate relationships. There is simply too much sexual tension in the T/client dynamic (read this board for instance, it needs a PG-13 rating sometimes) so the addition of touch just makes the transference and all the emotions more complicated.

So, if my T tried to hold my hand, I would likely smack him and fire him. Of course, he never would or he wouldn't be my T.

S