I had my first session with a new therapist today. I was pretty bewildered, felt my throat constrict and breath shorten, so was quite tense. I liked the guy, and trust him, so I'm going with actually talking about sensitive issues with someone face to face as being the reason I had a fear response.

He asked why I choose him. Because I liked his profile in the therapist directory, and because he's a man. There's a lot of women in the caring professions, and one of my issues is being able to relate with other men authentically. I've seen many women carers in the past year, and have connected with women more than men over the years. I know the history that led me to do that, so now I want to be able to unlearn my unnecessary distrust of other men, as part of my ongoing development.

The Internet is good, but face to face contact has huge value.