I think many of us struggle with the idea of whether we pay a T to listen to us, like a rent-a-friend, so they must not really care about us. However, don't we pay them for their expertise, part of which is knowing how to really listen to a client and to keep their s**t out of it? I don't believe that a good T will engage as thoroughly in a conversation with a friend, an acquaintance, etc., as they do to us in the session room. And when we are in the session room, aren't we supposed to be self-absorbed, in that we are talking about how we respond to the world?

Another part of their training is to know how to guide a client towards his or her decision making, and not just to offer advice. I believe a good T will approach us honestly with our best interest in mind. As someone said in this thread, when "when I can't rely on my own judgement, I borrow his."