do therapsits love their clients?

I agree....my first T when I was in my early 20s made it clear that I was loveable and this healed a lot of shame from my (totally wacked) family background. I think I would go so far as to say that it helped replace the love that I missed from my parents. Wow...I think that it's TRUE!

I don't go to therapy to be loved. I go because those I love need me to function better.

Yep. That's exactly why I started therapy..exactly. The question of whether or not I was loved/lovable never even crossed my mind.

I think slowly, over the years, as T has given me so much of what I missed as a child, I started to really SEE how much love I missed, and how unlovable I felt. It seemed like a non-issue before...like *I* wasn't lovable, but I was good at loving others, and it was just how it was. It hurt when I started to first feel it, but now it's all worth it.

Precisely! My therapists have provided the love I missed as a child (and now) from my parents. I used to feel guilty and sad about this "imperfection" and "differentness," but I'm OK with it now - just the way it is... and it's a very special love that I'm privileged to receive, not the same love, but a special love nonetheless that helps me to function and interact better in life.

My T told me she loved me. At first just by her behavior, by her interest in me, by her commitment to me, by looking at me with a loving gaze. Then she confirmed for me that what I saw in her face was indeed love. That was a special moment in my life that i will never forget . And finally she said to me twice, once after she read a note I had written her, and the other time after I told her that I love her, that she loves me, too.
It makes me feel so good to hear that! It is very very special and meaningful for me. I think I never felt really loved by my parents. Sure, they said that they loved me, but their behavior didn't convey that.
It makes me know that I am loveable, and that I belong somewhere, and that there is this one very special person who thinks about me and cares about what is happening to me, and is attached to me. It feels great .

Nope me either, but what do ya know... there it was.

vaffla, did you write this or did I? EXACTLY word-for-word my sentiments and my situation. Isn't it just an amazing feeling? And we deserve it!

I know my T loves me. He has never said it. And he never has to say it. He has said "know you are loved" ... but I know he loves me. He shows it in his work with me. I needed to know what Safe Love was like. And I have that with my T.

My T loves me and has told me many times. She hasn't loved any other client but she said she has felt fondness for them. I have worked a lot with T-several times a week, and she says I have let her in a lot. So she has grown to love me.

i've been known to exclaim to colleagues about loving my clients. its not in any sexual or romantic way, i just really enjoy them.