This to me is the crux of your post that reflects my own thinking of how therapy has been generally conducted up until now. This reflects my first therapy experience when, in spite of all the valuable insight I received, I was harmed greatly by the fact that from some point my therapy started revolving around my "relationship" with my therapist. All the rest of my life and the real struggles in many areas I hoped to solve in therapy, some existential questions I hoped to find answers to, some important relationships I hoped to improve - all of that was no longer important. "The Relationship" was put at the center of therapy, even though I didn't need it, didn't want it and didn't come to therapy for the purpose of starting an intense emotional relationship with the therapist.

I had concrete specific problems I needed to resolve and I looked at the therapist only as someone who could give me some valuable input on how I can tackle my problems because their training and education gave them the knowledge I didn't have at the time. I was seeing this service more like a psychological consultation, and rather a brief one, that could give me information that would shed a new light on my life situation and give me ideas of how I can move forward.

What I got myself into was just another unhealthy dysfunctional emotional involvement that was sold to me as a necessary part of therapy.

Was it worth tons of money wasted and a HUGE trauma I had to deal with afterwards for many years? NO.

On the other hand, was it a necessary part of growing, maturing and becoming who I am today? YES. But that applies to all life experiences, traumatic or not.