What is the role of consent for a therapist? Is it ethical for a therapist to tell a client not to talk about a specific subject because it makes the T uncomfortable? Specifically, withdrawing consent to hear about sexual fantasies which involve the T.

[wiser]

That’s a tough one.

I mean… assuming the client is merely sharing… and not in any way trying to act on this… it’s a pretty serious matter for a therapist to tell a client to not talk about a particular topic. I would think a risk could be compromising the therapy. I mean… if not in therapy, where else could the client work through this?

Still, the content could make someone uncomfortable.

I think the therapist has some personal work to do there, and maybe she needs some time to get it done. Perhaps a reasonable compromise might be to ask the client for a break on that topic—maybe a month or six weeks—and they focus on something else during that time… and the therapist makes good use of that time to get her own personal issue with the content worked out in her own therapy.