What does the therapist get out of the "therapeutic relationship"?

Truer words were never spoken etc.

Totally off-topic but wow, I wish I'd listened to folks who tried to din this into my very stubborn noodle before I started grad school (including my profs who wrote me rec letters). And..........I didn't listen.

Yeah, I don't know anyone who wasn't quite disappointed in some ways by grad school. My first 2 years felt totally like a step backward.

I should probably be more specific that I don't consider the usual slings and arrows of life to be "wounds." I use "wounded" to designate a "with you forever" sort of injury that informs a personality/character and may result in positive as well as negative traits, but speaks to the core. I don't find a lot of people have had such an experience in general, so even if the proportion might be marginally higher among Ts, the ultimate number is still quite low.

Interesting analysis going on in this thread.

Although I see such patterns with medical doctors, I think the superiority stance is mostly related to personality rather than level of education. I just don't see the correlation. It seems many from top tier universities are more humble than those from less prestigious ones and are comfortable being challenged. I've also worked with people who have, for example, a PhD, 2 Master's, and MD, yet still came across as curious and wanting to learn. It did not seem fake, and I think I likely would have spotted it if it was.

I do get upset sometimes about the fact many medical doctors aren't there to help you but chose the profession for self-serving reasons. Not all, of course. I've brought research to more than one medical doctor, and they seemed genuinely curious and even somewhat grateful. Others seem very dismissive at the thought of a patient knowing something they did not. I've even experienced grandiose medical doctors, who upon not knowing how to formulate diagnosis, wrongly assume the patient is imagining things. It's dangerous.

On the other hand, I also have interacted with people who don't like their egos challenged. Not sure if this is projection or not, but I've sometimes wondered if my T is insecure about his competence and may have felt threatened that I am an 'informed' client (aka research and apply knowledge of various subjects outside my sphere of education). He doesn't let on about it, so I'm not sure. Also not sure if I want to ask him but will think about it.

Wish I thought about this before when choosing medical doctors. Having secure ones who will actually listen to what the patient has to say makes a considerable difference.

This should be published.