Logo

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

15.06.2025 00:29

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

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.

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

Which is the worst Bollywood movie you have ever seen and why?

Serious disappointment when the client cancels a session.

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

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

Why does my vagina smell sort of fishy/musty days after sex when my boyfriend ejaculates in me? There isn’t any itching or burning when urinating, so I don't think I have BV. It just doesn't smell like me.

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.

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

After 70 years of the crappiest computers ever made, why does IBM exist?

General Introduction to Boundaries from Panahi Counseling:

Obsessing about clients outside of work hours.

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

Do empaths fall easier for abusive people?

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