I don't find the therapy relationship "artificial." It is always been a completely genuine relationship. I think it is a unique relationship with a very specific purpose (but all relationships have very specific, unique purposes), but that doesn't make it any less genuine or an act or a masquerade. I can understand why a therapist would be offended with an accusation that their caring for a client is just an act or a masquerade; it devalues the work they do and I have found all of my therapists to be professionally emotionally invested in my well-being -- that wasn't an act.