Every therapist-patient relationship is different, but that was not my experience with therapy. Within the therapy frame, my therapist and I had a real relationship. He would get frustrated, annoyed, angry but not in an effort to manipulate or train me. We did have a parent-teenager dynamic, and he would, at times, try to get me to do what he wanted me to by making threats he would never actually carry out. But that was more the result of his actual frustration rather than any attempt at manipulation.

I think he would have been offended if I told him he was training me like a dog. I can imagine the look on his face if I told him something like that. I think it would hurt his feelings.

No, therapy for me was all about the relationship, the connection, and the love.