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

Last Updated: 01.07.2025 04:32

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

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.

Off the top of my ancient head:

How do you know if your husband loves you truly and deeply?

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

Obsessing about clients outside of work hours.

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

Why do people see porn pics when they can watch porn videos instead?

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

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.

General Introduction to Boundaries from Panahi Counseling:

What are the causes of over sweating?

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

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

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

Inside the first official barefoot hiking park in the US - SFGATE

Serious disappointment when the client cancels a session.