I concur with what you say about therapists being so "invested in their life-fixer role . . . " Consider that, in ads, many of these folks bill themselves as "life coaches." This suggests that they are particularly adept at living skillfully and well and can teach that talent. On what, exactly, is that claim based? That is about as preposterously self-adulating a claim as a person can make. But they make it! They claim expertise in the art of living and the ability to impart that.

Living well, by the way, is as much art as it is science, if not more. So I don't believe that there are college courses that equip a person to be expert at life. When I worked with therapists, they seemed about as screwed up as people in general. Some had bad marriages or substance abuse issues themselves. And they sure didn't get along all that great with each other.

In the confines of an office, the therapist assumes this aura of being all-knowing and all-wise. It's just a pose. We clients enable it, though, because we want to believe these folks can lead us to the promised land of joy and self-fulfillment.