What are some signs that a therapist may have poor boundaries with their clients?
Last Updated: 03.07.2025 06:54
Struggling with fantasies of deeper connections with clients, whether sexual or parental or other intense or intimate relationships beyond psychotherapy.
Session-expressed curiosities about client details not relevant to the therapy.
Failing to mention the client in supervision/consultation, out of fear the supervisor/consultant will advise return to ordinary healthy boundaries.
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Obsessing about clients outside of work hours.
Eager anticipation (or anxious anticipation) of the next session in ways that distract.
Off the top of my ancient head:
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Frequent phoning or texting of clients to “check up on them and make sure they’re OK.”
Sense of competition with persons who are important in the client’s life.
Disclosing feelings, fantasies, and experiences to the client in ways not related to the work the client is engaged in.
General Introduction to Boundaries from Panahi Counseling:
Serious disappointment when the client cancels a session.
Routinely going over the time limit with certain patients, compromising the time for the next client.
These items can happen fleetingly, briefly, in any therapy, but if they’re frequent, it’s definitely time for the therapist to get some good, solid supervision/consultation.