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

10.06.2025 14:30

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

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

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

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

Why is my ex trying to provoke an argument with me?

Obsessing about clients outside of work hours.

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

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

What is your most erotic sex story?

Off the top of my ancient head:

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.

Serious disappointment when the client cancels a session.

Have you ever had a weird experience immediately following the death of a loved one that made you think there is an afterlife and that the deceased person was communicating with you?

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.

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

American Airlines sent a plane from the US to Italy that was too big for its destination airport and wasn't allowed to land - Business Insider

General Introduction to Boundaries from Panahi Counseling: