[chibg10]

I don’t know. I think you’re right that the root cause is low EQ either way, but at least the low EQ used to be expressed in each’s own personal manner. Your friend/ex/family member might have been an ass but at least they were the ass you had come to know and maybe appreciate to some extent, and that fosters empathy. When they phrase assery in therapy speak, it feels like all of a sudden your familiar relationship has become one-sided and impersonal. And before at least they had to make an effort to justify being a dang dangus — another opportunity to foster empathy.

There’s also a real conflict of interest in therapy where the therapist has a financial interest in pleasing the client but no stake in the wellbeing of the client’s acquaintances (other than the value they provide to the client). Hence empowering them with generic therapy speak around boundaries seems like somewhat of a logical outcome of that (and anecdotally what I’ve observed in my own experiences with therapy and in others who go to therapy)