No good therapist sets out to cause their client pain. Sometimes we must discuss painful things, go through painful processes, and set boundaries that feel painful. The pain is not felt on just the side of the client, I can assure you. We ache for our clients. We know that it's a hard, hard journey, that's why we're there. But sometimes we stumble into things, stick our foot in our mouth, and make a fool of ourselves as a T. That's why we push that communication is so important. We want our clients to say "You soooo messed up last week. This is what I heard/felt/perceived". So that we can talk through it. But some things, will be painful, no matter how hard we try to provide comfort for that hurt.