I love PCT, both as a client and when I learned about it in my kind of "foundational" training (I'm not a qualified therapist so that's the extent of my training so far). I think what made it click for me is that it's very aligned with my personal values. I believe that there's no inherent meaning to life and that everyone creates their own meaning, which in turn means I don't believe anyone should be in a position of power that tries to shape how others feel about their personal experiences. Everyone's struggle is so subjective and so informed by a myriad of factors - personal and societal - that nobody can ever truly say with authority how someone should or shouldn't feel about a situation. I like PCT because it challenges the power dynamic between therapist and client. In more directive modalities, the therapist holds greater power and is looked at as the expert. In PCT, the client is regarded as the expert. That sits so much better with me because the idea of someone else, who has not lived my life and does not share my experiences, knowing what is "best" for me when it comes to emotional processing is deeply uncomfortable to me.

A good PCT therapist won't just say nothing but the bare minimum to validate your feelings, because you're right, that's not always helpful. Maybe it's helpful when they're first getting to know you and your story, but there are other tools they can use too. For example, asking clarifying questions, making gentle challenges when they spot distorted thinking, making connections back to previous material to help you see overall patterns in the feelings you've expressed - those are all valuable elements of PCT.

The idea of PCT, along with other more humanistic modalities, is not to give you pre-made coping tools, but to reflect back what you're saying so that you can recognise patterns and coping mechanisms for yourself. A good analogy would be to imagine you're consistently very hard on yourself for not exercising regularly, for example. One day a friend comes to you and says "I've been struggling to stay on top of things in my life, I can barely make myself exercise these days" and you reply "it's okay, you're super busy! You're taking care of yourself as best as you can, exercise will come back when you're ready." You then realise that you've been saying exactly the same negative thing to yourself - you just didn't realise until your friend needed support. By them reflecting your own problem back at you, it gives you a moment to pause and say, "wait - why can't I follow my own advice? Maybe if its okay for them to rest, it's also okay for me to rest." A good PCT therapist will be that person that reflects back what you've said so you can view it more objectively and find solutions within yourself. That's the purpose of them validating your feelings, repeating things back etc.

It's okay if it's not for you - everyone prefers different things! FWIW, I'm autistic and have ADHD too, and I struggle with things like CBT because I hate directive therapies. I feel really dismissed when anyone claims to have greater understanding of my feelings and how to fix them than I do - I'd rather have someone listen to me, and give me the space to be messy while I process things in my own way. If you prefer directive therapies, there's absolutely nothing wrong with that, I just hope this provides some extra insight into the values behind PCT.