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Background: Boundary issues, which regularly arise in therapy, can present dilemmas for most clinicians. There hasbeen substantial literature on boundary excursions in clinician–patient relationships, however, very little empiricalresearch exists and is documented. As mental health researchers, we need to investigate a wide range of sensitive topicsto enhance our understanding of the many issues that arise in the psychotherapeutic frame.Aims: We set out to empirically explore perceptions of what may constitute a boundary violation among the mentalhealth staff in the State of Qatar and their views on the subject.Results: A total of 50 participants (24 psychiatrists, 2 doctorate level psychologists, 24 psychiatric nurses) respondedwith a response rate of 80%. Participants rated each possible boundary violation according to its degree of harm andprofessional unacceptability. Three distinct groupings of boundary violations were obtained: (1) core, consisting of themost serious violations; (2) disclosure and greeting behaviour, involving disclosure of information about the therapist andgreeting behaviour; and (3) separation of therapist and client lives, involving encounters between therapists and clientsoutside of therapy.Conclusions: It is important to ascertain these dilemmas so that these theoretical models can be integrated in clinicalpractice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]