I read this blog entry from What a Shrink Thinks back in 2011 and it put my mind to rest about what it means to pay for therapy and how a therapist can care.
Here's the link to the entry: What You Pay For

And here is the paragraph that summarizes it for me: "You are paying for therapy so that the discussion can continuously be all about you. So that I can, regularly and to the best of my ability, set aside my own **** to meet you on your terms. So that you don’t have to take care of me and immerse yourself in my life half the time. The fee is how you take care of me back. You owe me nothing beyond it. The fee is why our relationship is mutual. The fee compensates me for the inherent imbalance in the relationship. My needs are explicitly met there."