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

13.06.2025 08:14

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.”

Off the top of my ancient head:

Obsessing about clients outside of work hours.

Ive been pretending to be okay and acting as normal as possible, but Im actually completely heartbroken after a recent breakup. Its painful and really affecting me, to the point where I cant concentrate at work, Ive lost my appetite, I cant sleep, and It feels as if my whole world has been turned upside down. I loved him so much. He said so many cruel things to me and it made me realize he must not have loved me the way I loved him, or he wouldnt have said such horrible things. How do I handle the heartbreak and why cant I accept that he didnt love me and just forget about him?

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

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

General Introduction to Boundaries from Panahi Counseling:

What are the 10 things you regret doing in your life?

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

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.

Have you ever been spanked in front of a group of people?

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

Serious disappointment when the client cancels a session.

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.

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