Hi incognito,
Sorry I didn't respond sooner to your post, but I missed it earlier.

I know how uncomfortable what you're feeling and going through is but believe it or not as confused as you feel right now and as irrational, you're doing the hard work of therapy. You're recognzing your feelings even when they feel irrational (Side note: Me to T: This is completely irrational. T to Me: Emotions often are. Rinse and repeart several hundred times.)

And of course it's hard to talk to him. There's a part of you that believes talking to him and being honest about your feelings is going to get you hurt and/or in trouble. And you believe that because it probably happened over and over when you were little. So actually you're reacting in a very rational, human way. You're trying to avoid being in pain. And that's where the hard work comes in, because moving closer in relationship is actually a healthy thing to do but you learned differently, so to move towards relationship, to talk to your therapist about how you feel is to have to walk into the middle of your fear with a significant (but primitive) part of your brain screaming at you that you're going in the wrong direction. And the amygdala isn't real sophisticated. My T has told me a quote from someone who's name completely escapes me at the moment, that the amygdala asks three basic questions when something comes into view: Do I eat it? Do I make love to it? or Do I flee from it? Not a lot of nuance. And the structure of our brain is such that the amygdala has BIG WIDE pathways going to our cortex and the cortex has weak small whispers going to the amygdala, so that when you're in danger you don't stop to argue, you get out. Of course, we then use our neocortex to come up with complicated explanations to explain why we're doing what we're doing, when really its just a basic flight reaction.

The getting angry, and turning down the appt (been there, done that) and then getting angry at the appointment being gone are ways of maintaining distance to "protect" yourself.

And you're really right about not knowing because you haven't tried him. The first time I got really angry at my T, I was really struggling to tell him how I felt because it felt so terrifying. I finally said to him, "I'm really scared if I get angry at you, then you'll leave." And he answered very gently, "there's only one way to find out, isn't there."

So I really believe you're doing the right thing and your T will be able to hear it without taking it personally. And you'll have the chance to see how you're feeling and work it through. Good luck, let us know how it goes!

AG