I’m not Catholic and I’m quite curious about this. Can a priest be seen as a therapist during confession? As is giving you good advice and helping you work through issues or is it merely a matter of telling him all of your stuff and him saying, ok, don’t do that anymore and assigning you so many Hail Marys? Also, do you really feel better afterwards? Hmmm…maybe this belongs somewhere else. Not sure.
A discussion such as that one should take place outside of the confessional. Confession is not therapy, as the Vatican has stated. (Catholic confession is not therapy, Vatican warns | Catholicism | The Guardian)When one does a confession, one should confess the sins and the number. If the priest needs more information, he’ll ask for it. Next, he’ll give advice on how to avoid such sins in the future and then grant absolution. That’s it. This is especially helpful right now during Lent where the line was once 5 people is now 50. If you want to, you need to ask if you can continue the discussion outside. Also, there are Catholic therapists out there that you can online. Also, you might feel better, you might feel guilty as hell, it doesn’t matter. Feelings come and go. The fact is one is forgiven and is in a state of grace.
In the Anglican church, private confession to a priest is strictly optional; many good Anglicans go their entire lives without ever doing it, and outside a few estremely High Church areas it’s relatively uncommon for large numbers of parishioners to wish to do it, though in most Episcopal churches I’ve been affiliated with there are a few who avail themselves of it.
The degree to which it’s purely a mode of gaining absolution and to which it’s also therapeutic is the joint call of priest and penitent – with a priest with skill in counseling, and a willing parishioner, it may be a tiem for combined therapy and spiritual guidance. With a priest not especially competent in counseling, or a parishioner not seeking help but just forgiveness, there will be nothing beyond perhaps direction to seek out what the priest feels is appropriate, by way of penance.