I thought it was a very insightful article. However, this quote from it most directly mirrors my own opinion and experience in therapy - especially the italicized part.

"The most convincing contemporary description, for me, in reading about the therapist’s love, and the one that speaks to me the most in terms of my experience with patients, is Friedman’s (2005) concept of being immersed in and at the same time distant from the patient’s experience, and how this creates a feeling of love in the therapist which is particular to the analytic situation. This description seems to include the possibility of all the types of love being present in both patient and therapist, and reflects the asymmetrical nature of the enterprise, where the therapist participates fully, and observes at the same time, in order to ensure the safety of the patient. This also highlights that the therapist’s love may be necessary but it is not sufficient: it is not the therapist’s love itself which is curative, but rather how the therapist uses his or her love."

The therapist most definitely has to be an observer - a data collector. They may have affection for us, and wish for us what we wish for ourselves, but, they are certainly there to understand our problems and help us with them. That understanding necessarily involves a lot of neutrality and distance.