I wish I had more definitive answers for you. I can tell you that five sessions isn't a lot at all, and if you don't feel much improvement after five sessions that wouldn't surprise me. If you don't feel any improvement AT ALL--like, even a little bit--I'd be more concerned and talk to your T about it.

I think it would be helpful to try and stop thinking about it in terms of "how far along" you're supposed to be on some objective scale and just try to compare how you are now to how you were before you started therapy/ "normally" are.

How do you measure that? Well, it sort of depends on what your issues are and what goals you and your T set (and there should be goals). For me, though I was extremely disappointed not to find myself "all better" after a few months, the changes were subtle and, as they added up, made all the difference.

Example: The very first time I knew therapy was working--and not just in the cathartic way that you can feel unburdened by confession--was I was driving along, saw some flowers by the side of the road, and thought, "Wow. Those are so pretty. I wonder what kind they are. I'm going to look them up in my wildflower guide. I think I'll stop here later in the season and collect seeds to plant in my garden next year." Subtle, not life changing on it's own, but here was a thought that 1) assumed I would be alive and gardening six months from now 2) showed the promise of taking pleasure in SOMETHING 3) illustrated that I could be 'out of my own head' long enough to appreciate something beautiful 4) piqued a pleasant curiosity.

I couldn't remember the last time I'd had a thought like that prior to therapy. Every single thought I used to have was negative, fatalistic, self-hating, etc. etc. Every. Single. One.

As for whether or not you know if the T is a good fit? I'm not really the best person to ask. A lot of people shop a lot for a therapist they just 'click' with. One who makes them feel good about themselves, who they like as a person, and so on. As if finding a therapist is like finding a soul mate. I'm not one of them. For me, the alliance took time (like, ten sessions? Fifteen?) I guess just ask yourself if you think someone else would be better?

Sorry for the novel. Good luck and I hope something in there helped.