T2 (current T): Best thing... the other week, when I turned up and I just sat in silence and she said 'I have a feeling you need to sit on the floor' - which was so absolutely true (and I have no idea how she knew that???). She sat on the floor, and after a bit of hestitation (feeling exposed that she knew I needed to so very much), I got on the floor too... and promptly cried, and cried, and cried - and she just got up, came sat next to me and gently, so so gently put her arms round me and stayed there. It felt like I was back being small, after something horrible had happened (that I told her about a previous week). And then she said, it feels like we are back at X time - which was exactly right. Apart from alarming mind-reading capacities, it was the most amazing piece of helpful work EVER. It feels like somehow, she reached back in time, sat down with that child and held her. The memory of the bad stuff now contains her turning up sort-of, if that makes any sense?

Bad thing: Being given slightly longer sessions for 4 weeks - and including time for me to get back to being ok, finding that so much better, and then her going back to 1 hr sessions, no grounding at the end of that time. Not negotiated, no reason given - just how it is and I am to accept it. Painful.

Sapphire-Blue

deleted because the other answers are so incredibly moving. sapphire-blue and cat you have such incredible relationships with your T's made me cry in a good way

I have a few things about T1 for the best thing... I can't list one event but I'll do in general.

T1:
Pos: Being ever cogniscant of our bond, especially using gentle comforting touch like stroking my hair or holding me and taking deep breaths to help me do the same and reminding me to call on those experiences to keep a connection and grounding feeling for no matter what I am going through.

Challenge: There have been moments (many in the start) of contention but on a regular basis the hardest is when she starts giving me ideas for practical problems when I'm already overwhelmed by thinking about them and need her to go slower. I ask her to stop sometimes and feel so awful - she is smart and has great ideas but at times I've gotten overwhelmed.

T2:

Pos: Supporting me with my art, and taking ~40 pieces to a training she held, and displaying two large ones framed in the main wall of her therapy room. She gave me the canvas for them and trusted me to create. Without her I could never have done my gallery shows because I had so much fear of exposure.

Challenge: Changing her out of session contact with me after a giant several month long rupture after her stuff got in my therapy. That doesn't happen anymore.

Good questions

I had one therapist who drove me 1 1/2 hours out of state to the college I attended so my traumatic memories could be activated. I would have made that a con, but that ended up being a pro...I saw him in a totally different light after that experience.

My current T challenges me on my (negative) thinking all of the time. Believe it or not, that is a pro. Nobody ever really did that before and I think I need it.

Cons: Every time they go on vacation...