This has come up on other threads and I've been thinking about it for a while.

Do you feel your T instructs you? Provides information? Educates?

Is there something inherently offensive about the idea that you're struggling because there's something you haven't learned yet? That a T can either provide that missing information or discover it with you or help you find it on your own?

I consider my T an instructor of sorts. In fact, it's sort of hard for me to imagine therapy without a certain level of instruction. Empathy, understanding, commiseration--it's all important. But I feel I go to therapy primarily to learn. About myself. Life. The human condition. What the hell it means to rotate one's tires.

Obviously it isn't a passive instruction--my T doesn't pontificate while I take notes. But I have never felt personally that there was anything shameful in needing education--in fact, I'd say most of my problems stem from the fact that I haven't learned something, be it pure information, a skill, a different way of looking at things, what have you.

What do you think?