Logo

What are some signs that a therapist may have poor boundaries with their clients?

Last Updated: 23.06.2025 00:54

What are some signs that a therapist may have poor boundaries with their clients?

Off the top of my ancient head:

Session-expressed curiosities about client details not relevant to the therapy.

Routinely going over the time limit with certain patients, compromising the time for the next client.

I took a video of my serve (60 FPS) and it took 0.4 seconds from my racket to the service line. How fast would you say my serve was?

Sense of competition with persons who are important in the client’s life.

Obsessing about clients outside of work hours.

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.

Scientists make stunning discovery hidden along 2,000-mile stretch of ancient Antarctic mountains: 'More dynamic … history than previously recognized' - Yahoo

Disclosing feelings, fantasies, and experiences to the client in ways not related to the work the client is engaged in.

Eager anticipation (or anxious anticipation) of the next session in ways that distract.

Serious disappointment when the client cancels a session.

Where did the false claim that Haitian immigrants are eating pets come from?

Frequent phoning or texting of clients to “check up on them and make sure they’re OK.”

General Introduction to Boundaries from Panahi Counseling:

Failing to mention the client in supervision/consultation, out of fear the supervisor/consultant will advise return to ordinary healthy boundaries.

What life lesson did you learn the hard way?

Struggling with fantasies of deeper connections with clients, whether sexual or parental or other intense or intimate relationships beyond psychotherapy.