I can see how doing a long hike could be beneficial in helping someone get over emotional issues. Just the change of environment and being away from the triggers helps. After a couple of months on the trail, you'll likely have a whole new perspective on life and how to deal with it. That's the real magic of the trail. The root problems might not have all gone away, but your better able to deal with them constructively.
I never found the need to "find myself". What I found was I enjoyed the hiking and camping. Then without much conscious effort, I sort of fell into a life style which made doing a lot of hiking possible.
I hike to loose myself. I like getting into the hiker Zen state where the mind is effectively free of thought as the inner voice is quiet. The hiker zombie shuffle as I like to call it, stumbling along in an endorphin haze with maybe a little Vitamin I mixed in. Isn't that really why we hike?