I think it is based entirely on our T's. Just like some people we have a connection and become friends, I think the same with our T's. Not all T's open up or show any part of their personal life, and some do. My T talks about his personal life, and some experiences he has had, last session when talking about abandonment issue's he told me he has them, knows why he has them and went into alittle bit about it, to get me to open up! I guess it is the person, not so much his/her profession. If they are there to help and not just get paid, then one would think that they open up about themselves alittle bit to make that trust happen, and trust develops into friendship on some level.
My T calls me, and emails me, and when I see him we touch base first on how our week went, he talks about his and I talk about mine. We have had our weeks and even a month were we do not connect at all, and I become distant because I take it on a personal level.

I guess to me, he isn't a stranger, he is a newly started friendship, and he may not share all his personal life with his clients, but he does share enough so I don't think of him as a super human, but as a human that actually has a life outside of work........not sure any of this is making sense, but I do believe it is the person not the profession that makes him/her a stranger or not!