My T has definitely instructed me and I don't find that at all offensive. I clearly had things I needed to learn. Most of what he helped me learn had to do with skills concerning processing automatic thought, mistaken beliefs, etc. It certainly isn't all we did in therapy, but those skills were probably the bedrock of information that I had to learn to internalize so that I could function with more stability, less depression, less anxiety. Those skills are what I carried out of those sessions and into my everyday life and functioning. Those skills are what I realize now I use each and every day in some way even now that I am no longer in therapy. Yes, I could have read about them in a book (I did, in fact), but reading and comprehending skills is not at all the same thing as actually applying those skills with consistency over a long period of time so that they become internalized across one's life. That's where the long-term therapy, support, and practice, practice, practice with my therapist was so vital for me.

Do I think everyone goes to therapy to learn? No. But for me, learning was a very large aspect of my therapy: often very informally; sometimes rather methodically.

I agree. It wasn't teaching and learning like a classroom. My T didn't sit there and impart knowledge while I passively sat and learned. Not at all. It was more like a hands-on laboratory where I was my subject and I was the student very in charge of my learning. My therapist was more the guide on the side (to use very overused teacher-talk), watching, helping me clarify, offering suggestions and options, helping me reframe and redirect when I lost my way or was confused, reteaching when needed, etc.