There are ways in which therapy can disempower you: it can teach you to ignore your instincts, paper over your concerns

Any therapist telling you to “ignore your instincts” without diagnosing you with a relevant condition (e.g. PTSD, OCD) isn’t worth their salt. And not all therapists are licensed to diagnose you, so you’d need to be referred to a potentially different professional.

It’s like any other professional. You try stuff they suggest, and sometimes it doesn’t work out or you simply want 2nd opinion on a matter. It’s not perfect, but generally it helps.

so I’m really hesitant to recommend it to people blindly with no caveats.

Worst case, they waste a few hundred dollars and learn its not for them. I’ve wasted more money with worse things. I think the risk of getting “addicted to therapy” is much smaller than gambling or drugs.