I haven't found it to be universally true that "all have certain things in their life" and they entered the profession to "work on themselves." I mean, yes, everyone has been through something, but my three therapists had very different reasons for going into the profession, not all related to their own personal issues but instead often related to offshoots of their previous field that led them toward the profession. For instance, two of my three therapists were quite established in other professions and encountered a need for therapy for their clientele in that previous field, but they weren't trained or credentialed to provide that service. They pursued therapy as a profession because they believed they could help fill that need by furthering and adding to their own education and skills: they never fully left their first field - just added to them. I wouldn't necessarily expect a therapist to divulge their personal history, but you can certainly ask why they went into the profession.