Hi Tollhouse,

The only place were yelling 'may' be needed is if a therapist is under threat of immediate harm from a client or perhaps as a reaction to try and stop a client from doing something to immediately harm themselves whilst in the room....but even in those circumstances it's not always appropriate and may make the situation worse.

When you say 'yell'.....did this therapist shout very loudly and angrily or was it a raise in voice that sounded a bit more serious or stern?
A therapist really has no right to yell at any client, however they may sometimes get annoyed (they are only human) and their tone can change when they are frustrated but that wouldn't be considered yelling and can still be very counter productive etc.

A therapist should not yell or shout at a client who has a hard time opening up, as this will usually mean they feel even more anxious about it. Clients have every right to be angry, its a valid emotion and as long as its not threatening towards the therapist (although angry towards a therapist is still valid) it should be allowed to be expressed in the room in a safe way. Yelling for overstepping boundaries is also not appropriate, although if it was something extreme, like stalking or interfering with a theraists family life it may be understandable that they react out of emotions...again however its not really what should be done, even though it would be understandable in some ways.

No matter if a client is new or old in term of how long they have been seeing a therapist, yelling at a client is not acceptable, unless it is un extreme circumstances and even then it isnt really the right way to handle it.

Therapists should try to always remain as calm as possible, although sometimes they need to challenge us, but that does not mean they have to yell or shout. Howveer they are only human and mistake happen.