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

Last Updated: 03.07.2025 01:48

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

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

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.

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

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

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

Artists get better with age, e.g., painting. Yet when it comes to pop music, the famous work tends to be written when musicians are in their twenties. So, why aren't Bob Dylan or the Stones banging out amazing tunes now?

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.

Off the top of my ancient head:

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

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

General Introduction to Boundaries from Panahi Counseling:

Obsessing about clients outside of work hours.

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

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