My therapist told me the story once. Being a therapist was not his first career choice. I don't remember what he said was his first choice, but he told the story about how his path changed.

He had a college friend whose mother was a psychologist. She was moving her office, and he got recruited by his friend to help with the move. He said over that weekend, he spent a lot of time talking to her and became fascinated by what she did. That sparked further interest and discovery, eventually leading him to change majors and work toward his eventual doctorate. He didn't have a particularly traumatic childhood. Kind of typical family dysfunction, but nothing too terribly out of the ordinary. He was just really fascinated by psychology and went from there.

I answered "other" on the poll in relation to my most recent therapist. As I sit here typing I am thinking about the other two therapists I worked with. The first actually started in education and went on into therapy. He had a very stable home life, but was motivated to work with students in more of an emotional supportive role beyond teaching. The second therapist was primarily a minister by profession. He went back to school to gain an additional degree as a therapist after encountering many parishioners who were struggling. He saw and felt the need to be able to provide more skilled support for his parishioners in need. He also came from a very stable home; no trauma particularly. Just a calling.