How did we evolve to need a professional objective therapy instead of strong support systems.
Evolution works on the scale of millennia, we've been the same organism for the past 300k years and it's random best effort that only selects based on what kills you before you procreate, it doesn't guarantee anything at all.
Professional therapy (at least the one I experienced) uses well-defined methods in addition to drawing parallels and analogies. Downward arrow, event/emotion logging, exposure, core belief removal methods, etc. I was really intrigued when I realized that therapy is not about whining and listening to "it's okay" or shallow advices, but akin to debugging and programming with a mentor who already seen most bug like yours and only needs you to start dumping logs to confirm.
You can come up with something vaguely like this by accident, after talking to lots of friends. But why bother if you have a professional who can point out the inconsistency and suggest/explain the way to solve it in just in a few sessions?
1. Older adults are less open. I wouldn't just start texting someone from work about my favorite bands after knowing them for a couple weeks. In college that was common.
2. Children and family responsibilities are primary relationships, while in college friends are primary relationships.
3. Energy levels drop and responsibility rises as you age; limiting what you want to do.
4. There is a light social pressure to "act your age" that has a small governing influence to adult relationships.
I have good friendships, but almost all of my adult friendships are from college and highschool. Hanging out is usually a set activity like hopping on a game, grabbing lunch, or maybe biking, golf, etc on a sunday. Work is where I meet people and all of those relationships tend to be tainted by the professional relationship.