Right, certainly the T might be able to help the client understand the underlying psychology. But presumably one could figure out much of this from books and self-reflection, and not sure how that leads to change or reduced suffering.

Therapy is good at exposing this stuff and at rationalizing having done so, but it's unclear what's supposed to happen next. Much of what is said seems to imply that once exposed, the job's as good as done. Then it's just about "working through". But nobody ever seems to define that. Also (along the lines of Occam's razor) I do think it's a bit silly that many Ts fail to look first at the most obvious potential cause of the client's feelings, namely therapy itself, and instead focus on complex and speculative theories about projection and so on.

Best I can guess is that the mechanism of healing is the relationship but that's rather vague and risky too, as a person's emotional well-being is now hinging on a contrived relationship with a paid consultant.

Sitting in a room with my last T and having her hang on every word brought out ferocious longings. She was quite skilled at provoking and seducing. But after that, she was utterly lost and eventually just made a run for it.