Affection vs. caring and nurturing

How does your t show affection?

Do you think affection is different than caring and nurturing?

She shows me affection with her words. She also hugs me at the end of a session if I allow it. She used to come sit by me and hold me while I cried (she quit doing that). My T is really good at showing care/nurturing and affection just in the words she uses. There's no doubt in my mind that she cares a great deal.

I don't think she really does. She nice. She listen and doesn't judge me. But I don't really feel any of the things you mention.

My t uses affectionate language with me. He calls me, "Sweet XXX. or Dear XXX." He is compassionate and patient with he words and the way he treats me. He will come sit by me when I'm upset and he hugs me at the end of every session. He's said he wishes he could have protected me from the bad things that happened when I was little and that he would have protected me. He gets angry at the injustices that have occurred. He is an excellent example of empathy and compassion.

My t repeatedly tells me that she cares and that I mean a lot to her. She allows me to reach out to here whenever I need to. And she'll occasionally reach out to me, to see how I am doing. She listens with understanding, and is honest with me. She offers me hugs sometimes and has given me therapeutic gifts in the past.

I think they are all part of the same thing, although when you say "affection" I isually think of physical affection. My T hugs me, sits next to me on the couch, and puts her hand on my knee or on my shoulder. She also says "I love you" and says a lot of sweet, caring things to me.

Affection is a feeling of liking and fondness for someone, it feels more personal than nurture and caring, which is a bit more distant and more about the person as a whole and their growth and safety and well-being. The latter can be more clinical.

Having said that, there is a lot of overlap and in a way it can be argued that affection is necessary to provide care and nurture that comes from a person's heart and is not just some clinical professional duty provided.

For me distinguishing them has been about the quality of care and nurture I have received, quality that made me sense the affection behind it all coming from a T. I'm an intuitive person and so it's not easy to point to what they say or how they acted but it's a combination of all of it that makes me sense there is affection there also.

Good question. A bit harder to categorize than I thought...

Affection from T - Warm hugs, showing me love (verbal, written, and in her actions), the tone of her voice, feeling the genuine care.

Nurturing + caring from T - being understanding and patient, sometimes crying with me, genuinely caring about me, letting me genuinely care about her, being goofy, contact in between sessions, making me feel safe, showing me love (verbal, written, and in her actions), reassuring me I can be ok.

I have not seen affection from the woman.
For that matter I would not say caring or nurturing have occurred with the woman either.

I do think they are all three different ideas.

Care, nurturing and affection are different things for me.

Caring would be T asking if I wanted cream for my hand where I had deeply sunk my fingernails into because I was anxious. A professional sort of concern/care.

Nurturing would be something warmer and more "motherly". For example, speaking in a soft, gentle, soothing tone when I was in a vulnerable state. Or her briefly touching my knee when I was strongly distressed.

Affection for me would be more egalitarian. For example, she saying in a playful tone "Got to tell you something, my friend." Or her lightheartedly pointing out that I'm voicing out my characteristic suspicions in a "There you go again! " way.

T doesn't explicitly show any of it. I mean of course she shows concerns and understanding when bad stuff happens. She was genuinely concerned when my mom was diagnosed with cancer or I was in a bad accident. And overall I know she cares of my well being, she is sincerely excited whenever I share good news. But she doesn't express affection or any particular nurturing. To all honesty I do not feel I need it from her. No, we don't hug or touch. I am very touchy but I just don't need that with t.

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Thanks everybody for your responses. This has helped me to clarity somethings in my relationship with my T.