TN,

Thanks for your (as always) thoughtful reply. Reading your feedback has really made me see how variable every situation is. I'm not a victim of sexual or physical abuse. My abuse was emotional, which isn't to say that it doesn't effect things like touch and intimacy, etc, but obviously it's different.

Also, I'm a guy. I'm a white, educated (and for many other cultural reasons) privileged guy. Obviously, gender, race, ethnicity, etc, present their own large set of variables. All this is wrapped up in how one experiences, well, everything I guess, including therapy.

It sounds like your therapist really understands how to do therapy, and how to work with you in particular. I'm glad for this, because we all benefit from your good therapy here.

I sure hope people don't think my T is some Freud look-a-like who sits stonefaced in the other direction from me. While he is very serious, he's also very connected to my thinking and my feelings. He smiles and laughs like any other human being, and he can also be hysterically funny and sardonic. He just doesn't insert his story into mine.

Anyway, thanks for your thoughts.
Russ