i do not believe there is an "Iconic" Therapist, who is or isn't any one thing all the time. therapist are just people, with jobs. some do it better than others. some are better people that others. some days are better than others. it's a Luck of the Draw situation.

imagine a therapist's job: 35 or so people a week come into your little room and weep, and rant, and rave, and laugh, and cry, for 50 minutes, then you put them out on the street, sometimes knowing that they are gonna fall; but there is another waiting in a chair for her/his turn.

some come for 8 weeks, all their insurance will cover, tho they are crying for more; some come for years, and hardly change at all. some, a few, find a way out of the morass of thoughts and emotions that have dragged them down to the place where they need a stranger to be their guide, their friend, their surrogate parents, their Significant Other.

but no matter how many skills one, as a therapist, has, all the changing is the choice and decision of the client. no matter what one's feelings, the "therapeutic relationship" requires that for eight 50 minute sessions a day, one tries to focus on the endless woes of another, week after week, month after month,, year after year.

it's no wonder therapists take 6 week vacations, and schedule them around "professional conferences and training" to extend their time away from all the emotional neediness and cognitive stiffness of their work environment.

so let's try to be a little more understanding of the real human behind the "Therapist", and give them a little slack. find others who can be called in the off hours; learn self-comforting skills so we can wait our turn. have mercy.