I don't feel as strongly as Anthony but I do feel you need to squirm a little in each session. But, my personal marker of progress is if I walk away with a new thought, perspective, or a homework assignment of recognizing a behavior or symptom and its trigger. If I can leave with one or two new revelations about the mental processes that are keeping me stuck the sooner I will be out of the quicksand. Once in a while I do leave feeling like I didn't accomplish anything, but honestly it is usually due to me limiting myself by not engaging with my therapist.