Logo

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

11.06.2025 12:52

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

Obsessing about clients outside of work hours.

Off the top of my ancient head:

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

By skipping offseason workouts, Lamar Jackson forfeits another $750,000 - NBC Sports

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

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

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.

Is a man who enjoys anal sex considered a sissy? For those who think so, why can't they be thought of as someone who enjoys a variety of sexual pleasure?

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

Serious disappointment when the client cancels a session.

General Introduction to Boundaries from Panahi Counseling:

Would the word literate carry the same meaning with public (common wealth) in 1900 vs today 2020?

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.

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

Do women like men who have slept with many women?

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