I think if we have trouble working with just our own material, having another's story has to help or we're in double trouble :-) I was most helped in my 30 years of therapy from reading fiction. The veracity of the characters and their struggles were inspiration and support for me.

That's not to say everyone's story will be helpful to me or that how the story is told may or may not influence whether I find it helpful or not, etc. I don't think someone can say, "here's my story, be helped" and someone telling me their story, I believe that should be because they see a connection in their lives between their story and what I have described; that does not mean the obverse will be true.