Are You In Trouble With A Client?

Estelle Disch, Ph.D.
BASTA! Boston Associates to Stop Treatment Abuse
528 Franklin Street, Cambridge, MA 02139
Copyright © 1992

The purpose of this checklist is to alert you to boundary issues which might be interfering with your ability to work effectively with a particular client. Be particularly attentive if the situation persists even after you have attempted to change it.

Client's initials or pseudonym__________________________

1. This client feels more like a friend than a client.
2. I often tell my personal problems to this client.
3. I feel sexually aroused in response to this client.
4. I want to be friends with this client when therapy ends.
5. I'm waiting for therapy to end in order to be lovers with this client.
6. To be honest, I think the goodbye hugs last too long with this client.
7. Sessions often run overtime with this client.
8. I tend to accept gifts or favors from this client without examining why the gift was given and why at that particular time.
9. I have a barter arrangement with this client.
10. I have had sexual contact with this client.
11. I sometimes choose my clothing with this particular client in mind.
12. I have attended small professional or social events at which I knew this client would be present, without discussing it ahead of time.
13. This client often invites me to social events and I don't feel comfortable saying either yes or no.   
14. This client sometimes sits on my lap.
15. Sometimes when I'm holding or hugging this client during our regular therapy work, I feel like the contact is sexualized for one or the other or both of us.
16. There's something I like about being alone in the office with this client when noone else is around.
17. I lock the door when working with this client.
18. This client is very seductive and I often don't know how to handle it.
19. This client owes me/the agency a lot of money and I don't know what to do about it.
20. I have invited this client to public or social events.
21. I am often late for sessions with this particular client.
22. I find myself cajoling, teasing, joking a lot with this client.
23. I am in a heavy emotional crisis myself and I identify so much with this client's pain that I can hardly attend to the client.
24. I allow this client to comfort me.
25. I feel like this client and I are very much alike.
26. This client scares me.
27. This client's pain is so deep I can hardly stand it.
28. I enjoy feeling more powerful than this client.
29. Sometimes I feel like I'm in over my head with this client.
30. I often feel hooked or lost with this client and supervision on the case hasn't helped.
31. I often feel invaded or pushed by this client and have a difficult time standing my ground.
32. I sometimes hate this client.
33. I sometimes feel like punishing or controlling this client.
34. I feel overly protective toward this client.
35. I sometimes drink or take drugs with this client.
36. I don't regularly check out what the physical contact I have with this client means for the client.
37. I accommodate to this client's schedule and then feel angry/manipulated.
38. This client's fee feels too high or too low.
39. This client has invested money in an enterprise of mine or vice versa.
40. I have hired this client to work for me.
41. This client has hired me to work for her/him.
42. I find it very difficult not to talk about this client with people close to me.
43. I find myself saying a lot about myself with this client - telling stories, engaging in peer-like conversation.
44. If I were to list people in my caseload with whom I could envision myself in a sexual relationship, this client would be on the list.
45. I call this client a lot and go out of my way to meet with her/him in locations convenient to her/him.
46. This client has spent time at my home (apart from the office).
47. I'm doing so much on this client's behalf I feel exhausted.
48. I sometimes yell at this client.
49. I dread seeing this client.
50. I'm bored with this client and wish s/he would terminate.
51. I agreed to see this client for a very low fee and now I feel like I need to be paid more for my work but the client can't pay more.
52. I relate to this client in another role outside the treatment relationship (e.g. student, research assistant, trainee, employee, family member, friend, friend of a friend, etc.).
53. This client is in so much pain I sometimes think s/he would be better off dead.
54. Sometimes I wish this client were dead.

Add your own examples....

Feedback welcome. Contact Estelle Disch at either of the following places:
BASTA! (above) (617) 661-4667; Department of Sociology, UMass Boston, 100
Morrissey Boulevard, Boston, MA 02125- 3393,(617) 287-6256.

Copyright © 1998 BASTA!  All rights reserved.
This information has been reproduced on AdvocateWeb.org with the permission of BASTA! and the author.