I think the dynamic of the therapist-client relationship is inherently abusive. In what other scenario would you go to another adult/a stranger and immediately tell them all your vulnerabilities/fears/insecurities/failures etc and then take their feedback as gospel? We (the clients) know next to nothing about them. We don't know if they have jealousy issues, if they're controlling, if they're assholes, if they themselves have abused/neglected their children (the very same problem many ppl go to therapy for) etc. We have no insight into their personality, their relationships, their life philosophy, their integrity or lack thereof.

Knowing nothing about them we're essentially asking and trusting them to care about us. For a fee, of course. Can they really give a **** about us though? Can they care about all their clients that they see for one hour a week? Why should they care? Even if one believes that it's possible for them to genuinely care, one would have to acknowledge there's a lot of room for abuse in this dynamic. Or a lot of room for the therapist to just fake it. It's not a bad way to earn a living. Your clients trust you implicitly, and you have all this unearned authority. You get to feel good about yourself and pat yourself on the back for "helping people," And earn a decent living for just sitting in a room and talking and pretending to care.