Sorry for being late to the thread, but wanted to share my experience/s.

I've been seeing therapists since I was 20 and I'm 66 now, so I guess you could say I'm an old hand at this. I have Bipolar I, first manic episode at 16. Therapy is part of my treatment along with my meds. Takes both to keep me stable.

In my experience, there were always boundaries in therapy, and that included not asking tdocs personal questions. I don't have a problem with it. I guess I always felt their private life is really none of my business. Besides, I was paying good money to talk about *me* not them....lol

I did ask questions when I interviewed my current tdoc to see if we might click. Like where he went to school, where he trained, how long he practiced, what types of therapy/therapies he was familiar with, the usual.

But I also asked a few personal questions. I wanted to know where he stood on politics and religion, and a couple of other things that had nothing to do with therapy. I wasn't looking for a long debate/conversation, but if we weren't on the same page I knew it wasn't going to work. Fortunately, we were on the same page and the rest is history.
I never asked him a personal question again.

Again, my experience only.....