My T began very early in our work to tell me that he was having strong feelings - strong feelings of care and protectiveness. He will still bring this up in our work on his own. He will tell me just bluntly mid-session that he's feeling strong daddy feelings or strong protective feelings.

It did and sometimes still does cause me a strange sense of physical pain coupled with longing. It's like care hurts... I want it, but when I encounter it, it feels like too much to handle - I used to describe it like watering a dry plant. If you dump a bunch of water on it at once, the plant simply cannot absorb it all.