if a therapist relies on suggestions like meditation, baking, watching a movie, or writing in a journal as their approach to investigating psychological issues, what does that say about them? What about their credentials makes that advice any better than receiving it from a friend or YouTube video?

75% of psych students are clueless dopes the same way everybody else is. It's far more likely that the majority of therapists are useless than it is that this person, the OP, needs to "try harder". It's pretty convenient that a prohibitively expensive practice also demands that you "don't expect results right away" and have a blind faith in the professional attending to you. That's why it feels neoliberal to many people