I know a fair amount about my therapist and like you I feel it enhances the relationship and the therapy because we see each other as real, whole people. My shrink uses an approach that believes that self-disclosure can be very important when done properly. There are lots who would say that is unprofessional or against the rules, but the fact is that people will be people and also in this case there is a whole school and philosophy behind it. I could see that some people wouldn't want to know much about their therapist or might feel burdened if they did know. Some people want therapists to be neutral, objective, and experts. I just don't believe in that approach and actually have experienced it as bad for me. It makes me feel abandoned and like a specimen.