Yes, I agree with this and have experienced this a lot too but personally, by the time I worked through my transferences, I was surprised at how much I didn't see and wasn't aware of. It was truly amazing.

I also see it in others outside of therapy very frequently, including people with no known trauma history. This can include someone at work relating to me as if I was their mother. Everyone has distortions regardless of what approach you view. The defense mechanisms and transference exists outside of psychoanalytic practitioners. Denial, repression, dissociation, etc. prevents people from 'seeing' quite often--this is common.

The opposite happens too-if you have a good T who doesn't engage in your patterns or enmesh, the client can get very angry or distressed and quit, ending badly. If you have relationships that follow a certain pattern and outcome, and the T doesn't follow the usual or desired pattern, then it can be extremely disconcerting but still be outside of one's awareness. So damage can be done regardless of therapist skill, so I am acknowledging that possibility here.