I would hazard a guess that therapy provides a place where you can speak about yourself and your issues with someone who doesn't have a hidden agenda. With friends, they ALWAYS have a hidden agenda. It might make them feel important/feed their self esteem to talk to you about this stuff. It might make them feel like their problems aren't all that bad compared to yours. Stuff like this. Their hidden agenda is talking to you makes them feel good in some way.. thus they keep talking to you. If they didn't get that hit of nice feelings, they wouldn't bother. The only hidden agenda the psych has is the money and that is not very hidden.. its sort of a "you knew it up front" kind of deal. This is why I prefer therapy to talking to a "friend".