I don't think the therapy relationship is supposed to be a blueprint for developing relationships with other people, because it is unique. I think it's supposed to create a safe place to explore our own thoughts, feelings, and behavior in relationships with someone who is knowledgeable, caring, and self-aware, but who also maintains enough distance to keep from getting all caught up in our own issues. I think the therapy relationship should help us gain insight into ourselves so that we understand ourselves well enough to make healthier choices in our real life relationships. It should be a place where we can safely explore our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that occur within the therapy relationship itself, but its main purpose is to help us feel safe enough to explore all these things in a broader context, as we try to develop new relationships or resolve problems in existing relationships. In that sense, I see it as a very helpful tool, but I think sometimes T's aren't very good at defining the real purpose of the relationship, and then sometimes the therapy relationship itself ends up being the patient's goal, or the patient sometimes sees no purpose to the relationship at all.