At least in my professional experience, it really doesn't fucking matter if I tell you what to do... You're probably going to just keep doing the same shit anyway. In fact, most of the time if I actually tell my clients what they should do, they'll just think I'm an asshole. Not a jaded response, by the way, just 11 years of experience, doing it my way and watching others do it wrong over and over.
I deal with people with severe behavioral disorders. They know what they're doing and they know what they're supposed to do, but impulse almost always wins over reasoning. If I want someone to change, my ultimate goal is to make them come to a realization and to feel like they did so on their own. Then I want them to want to tell me about it. So then, when they come so me and tell me something, I can listen and give feedback based on our previous talks to reinforce what they did. Hopefully, the next time that issue comes up, they can then use that to make the right decision again.
The reason it's done this way is because someday, I'm not going to be around to tell you what to do, so you need to be able to figure it out on your own. That's my job. I can give you the tools to change. I can kinda tell you how to use them, but I can't force change on you any more than I can live your life for you.
Think God in Futurama.
