A703 Tony and Dr Melfi: Therapy Boundaries and Ethics in "The Sopranos"

Explore the ethical complexities of treatment presented in “The Sopranos.” Learn what the series can teach us about blurred boundaries, the limits of “values neutral” psychotherapy, and ways to talk nonjudgmentally with clients about behavior that’s hurting both them and others. Note: this course fulfills many state board requirements for training in ethics and risk management.

Meet The Instructor

William Doherty, Ph.D., is a professor and director of the Citizen Professional Center at the University of Minnesota and author of 12 books on families and family therapy, including “Putting Family First,” “Take Back Your Marriage,” and “Take Back Your Kids.”

Course Contents

Session 1: Boundaries and Ethics in Working with Difficult Clients • Discussion of how Dr. Melfi handles the challenge of maintaining boundaries when working with a client who’s at once charming, threatening, and searching for healing • Discussion of why and how the first session of therapy sets the tone for what can and can’t be discussed for the rest of the therapy

Session 2: Handling Critical Incidents with Self-Care and Responsibility to the Client • Discussion of how a client’s crisis affects the therapist sense of safety, making traditional ethical guidelines difficult to manage • Exploration of what happens when therapists working with individual clients turn to helping with a marriage

Session 3: Handling Crises in the Clinical Relationship • Discussion of how problems in clinical relationships can mirror problems in supervisory relationships • Review of how unaddressed self-of-the-therapist issues can undermine therapy and lead to poor termination of treatment

Learning Objectives

Identify threats to good boundaries in clinical relationships
Discuss self-of-the-therapist issues with highly challenging clients
Describe the limits of values neutrality in working with clients who are harming others