I have heard of this and have seen this in therapists I know outside of my personal therapy. I think what this means is that being theraperized is having all the insights and knowing all the problems and being able to understand yourself fully and talk about it, but not living it. Kind of an outside observer of it all.

He certainly could have framed it better. It's not a sign of hopelessness-maybe a sign that he has a strategy to help long-term clients who are struggling.