The long list missbella refers to in her response reminds me more of the cult-ish type new age therapy gurus or alternatively the real orthodox psychoanalyst. And I hope nobody has had the experience of dealing with (what I hope) to be a very small group of therapists where the balance of power is completely lopsided.

Another thing just now that I was thinking about, not directly related to the above, is about whether power comes from the individual or the institution:

The guru type therapist gets most of her power from herself, being special and superhuman. She may not even have a license but could have a big following. The psychiatrist type of therapist gets most of his power from institution of psychiatry, which requires the person qualify as a psychiatrist and also be regulated by them. The power to prescribe drugs, to officially diagnose, to commit someone against their will, etc, comes mainly from psychiatry's power, not the person themselves.

Perhaps for some people this distinction makes no real difference, because power is power, but one thing I try to do, whenever I feel powerless, is to try to see the source of power. Where is it coming from and who has it?

These kinds of questions are useful if you feel powerless all the time. I know myself going into therapy often feel quite powerless in my life. And I have a tendency to project too much power into others. Sometimes the power they have is real and I was right. But sometimes it's not. And sometimes I have more power than I imagined.

But it, well, sucks, that people go into therapy to feel empowered and sometimes therapy situation itself just adds to their disempowerment. It's like going to a doctor and getting sicker!