While I'm sure that most some therapists act with integrity, and do a good job, looking back it is clear that the one I saw for several years treated me as a source of income.

In retrospect, I can see that my problems were centred around my relationship with an absolutely typical narcissistic parent. He ticked ALL the boxes. But the first time I heard of the idea of the narcissistic parent was watching The Sopranos! How come one episode of a TV drama taught me more about my situation than years of 'therapy'? Its ridiculous.

So, I am naturally suspicious when I hear of therapy going on for years. I understand that in some cases this is necessary, but I can also see how this situation is open to abuse. Therapy should be about two things, crisis management, and developing the skills to enable you to live autonomously. Basically, its about unlearning the 'crap', and learning what a good parent would have shown you, and to do this a quickly as possible. Otherwise, it just gets too cosy. The 'therapee' gets their weekly chat, the therapist gets their monthly check, and the years pass.

Lacan had an interesting take on this. He noticed that people padded out their sessions, and only started getting to what was critical at the end of the session. If people had an hour, they used an hour. So, instead of allocating them an hour, his sessions had no defined time. He, basically, ended them if he thought they were going nowhere. Tough love. Worth thinking about, though. Basically, if therapy is going on for years, you gotta ask, is it working, and who for?