A good therapist knows how to understand you and your problems and can help you understand them and yourself better. They can help you unwind the mental effects of traumatic events. It’s a lot more than just you venting to them, they actively challenge your perceptions and help undo the mental knots you’ve tied yourself in. Or at least, that’s what I’ve gotten out of it with my therapist. It’s not sharing secrets with a friend for hire, it’s like calling a mechanic and having them listen to the car running to figure out what’s wrong with it. They’re on the phone so they can’t fix it, but they can work with you to figure out what’s wrong and how you can wither fix it yourslef or work around it. As for your side note, that’s really condescending and rude honestly.