I just highly doubt some T's (most?) "act" all day long, every day. That would be really exhausting to do all the time. My T is genuine in her interactions with me. I find it very difficult to believe she is acting that she is kind and interested in what I am saying. Her humor isn't acting-though she specifically said she uses humor to lighten the mood. I can see how you would see that as a sort of manipulation SD, but many people use humor to alleviate a bad mood. My friend does it all the time-she is hysterical and she know exactly when to make a joke that will snap me out of a bad mood. Is she "manipulating" my feelings? I suppose so-but is that a bad thing?

I also think T's definitely show you their "best" side, but my preschoolers also only see my "best" side--but I am not acting all day long, I just don't show them my anger or more of my "dark" side of my personality. It's not appropriate as a teacher, and it's not appropriate as a T, and it really isn't appropriate in many professions.
I think you can be a "real" person and not be complaining about your life at your clients. I find it hard to believe T's put that much effort in faking it all day, every day, unless you are a sociopath and get joy from that kind of thing.

I think that your need to have any T not show any part of themselves makes it easy for you to read books and read stories here and see anything that they may do "at you" (the general you, not personally) as some manipulation to make you feel different. I completely respect what you use your T's for. That's fine. I just disagree that the whole profession is a bunch of wily manipulators trying to make their clients "feel" things they don't want to. My T focuses on trying to understand me, and may make suggestions based on what she learned about human psychology that might make me feel less alone-as that is my specific problem.

I am rambling, so I will stop here. (Insert smiley face emoticon)