It might depend on the modality of the therapist, also. I think psychoanalytic and psychodynamic stuff focuses a lot on hidden meanings. I'm no modalities expert, but there are some modalities that assumes a lot of hidden meanings and modailities that do less so, or only in a practical way. (CBT for example tends to focus on the things that bother you, not the things that the T feels are weird. So if you are scared of cows because you're scared of zebra's because you're scared of Africa because your dad's friend was from there, that will only become a focus if it actually bothers YOU - if you find a job on a dairy farm or something.)