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All survivors had experienced the mental health professional driving therapy, which was considered by interviewed professionals as detrimental to survivors’ wellbeing. Specifically, professionals being overly treatment focused, having inflexible and restrictive time limitations placed on therapy, and recommending inappropriate strategies were cited as problematic.

6.10.1.1 Being treatment focused.

All survivors experienced professionals taking charge of treatment and found this rather confronting. Gina perceived the professional’s words and actions as “arrogant” and “forward”:

He was very treatment focused in that he started our relationship with, “Right, what are your presenting issues, and what are we working on? We have a time- frame on this and let’s get started”…

Bella recalled how the mental health professional she consulted immediately set goals for treatment and described what strategies should be used, as it was considered efficient for treating insomnia. However, she stated she was never once asked about her history, or why she thought she was having trouble sleeping.

It was like she was a doctor prescribing me the best type of medicine… not actually listening or considering who I was as a person…

Bella initially agreed with the mental health professional and attempted the strategies suggested, but “felt like a failure” when she was unable to complete the tasks. When she reported her lack of success to the mental health professional, she was advised to keep trying, which added to her feelings of inadequacy. Dora noted that both mental health professionals she disclosed her CSA experiences to

immediately went into what she described as “fix mode”, which she found very unhelpful.

6.10.1.2 Time limits and inflexibility.

Mental health professionals placing limits on the number of sessions or being inflexible about scheduling were examples of professionals driving therapy.

Professionals are often constrained to a limited amount of sessions that are subsided by Medicare, the Australian Government’s health system. Under the ‘Better Access to Mental Health Care Initiative’, individuals are able to access psychological assistance for up to 10 sessions per calendar year, for many of the mental health issues CSA survivors commonly experience. Depending on the mental health professional, sessions can be ‘bulk-billed’ (i.e., free of cost to the individual), or partially subsidised, resulting in more affordable access to quality mental health care (Australian Psychological Society Limited, 2013). Private health insurance may cover a portion of the fee to consult a mental health professional, but for individuals who are low-income earners, such cover is a unaffordable. In addition, the Medicare rebate cannot be used if an individual is covered by private health insurance.

that determines the number of sessions. It was noted that more sessions than standard was especially important for survivors of CSA, due to the nature of the issue. Gina discussed how time limited therapy was something she was “struggling with” as she felt she was “compromising a part of [herself]”.

Mental health professionals also recognised the need for CSA survivors to engage in longer treatment compared to those who experienced adult, single event trauma, with MHP 7 stating it was a “tortoise, not a hare job”. MHP 12 further elaborated:

There can never be an eight-session model, not for someone who has

experienced CSA… those guidelines have been endorsed for instance by Victims of Crime Tribunal… eight sessions may work really well for a man whose never had any abuse in his life, and then he’s at a petrol station when it’s held up… but with someone with CSA, it’s affected their whole development of self, so it’s difficult to return to a functioning level of self, because self is what was affected.

Flexibility with scheduling was considered by both survivors and

professionals as useful. Extension of time in session was considered helpful on the odd occasion when the survivor was in the midst of an important point, or distressed. Gina noted that “not being cut off” was particularly useful for her:

[A couple of occasions] when were in the middle of something, or I was in the middle of a story or a self-revelation, she would allow the session to go over, rather than cut me off… it was only 10 minutes or so, but I felt really understood and cared for and important.

While it is important to establish boundaries, it was also perceived as important to use common sense and not adhere unwaveringly to them if the client appeared upset or in visible distress.

Mental health professionals noted that survivors needed flexibility as they noticed survivors sometimes ‘go to ground’ for varying periods before returning to therapy, as MHP 10 explained:

I see treating sexual abuse, and the issues around sexual abuse, as long-term therapy… I don’t’ think it’s something that can be rushed, I think people need to work on things in their own time and people need to be able to have a space to reflect and back away, then re-engage…

This finding supports research that long-term treatment may be beneficial for working with disclosures of CSA. The nature of the abuse, along with the potential for survivors to experience difficulties with establishing a trusting therapeutic relationship, means that short-term treatment may not be as effective. This is consistent with literature examining other survivors’ opinions about the benefit of longer treatment for CSA (e.g., O’Brien et al., 2007; Palmer et al., 2001).

6.10.1.3 Recommending inappropriate strategies.

Mental health professional driven therapy included the professionals providing inappropriate strategies or referrals when the topic of CSA was mentioned. Dora cited this occurring with both mental health professionals she consulted with:

That’s why I got sick of it, because he was just trying to keep giving me all this information for activities and clubs and to make friends, which I understand… but that’s not where I was at, at the time… and,

The [female] counsellor actually gave me details of a support group… and I was really annoyed that she was… really pushing it on me because I didn’t want to talk about it to a whole group of people at that stage. And I hadn’t even told one person!

He made some suggestions initially about approaching my family and discussing some things with [them], but unfortunately, they aren’t open to discussing these things…

Whilst mental health professionals believed teaching clients to regulate their emotions and adopt relaxation skills were beneficial for managing distressing emotional states associated with the disclosure, this was not the case for the survivors interviewed. Survivors believed suggesting strategies was unhelpful, to the extent that Gina believed it was “almost insulting”. However, this could be due to the relaxation strategies possibly being recommended formulaically, rather than it being tailored to their individual needs or situation. It appears that while suggesting strategies may be helpful, they need to be thought through and offered in accordance to what the survivor feels is most comfortable with.

6.10.1.4 Violating survivor boundaries.

Mental health professionals noted more severe examples of fellow therapists directing treatment and fulfilling their own agenda. For example, one professional noted how her client’s previous psychologist blamed her for any other future sexual assaults because she did not feel comfortable reporting the crime to police. MHP 3 noted how one psychologist took one step further:

[The caller] was seeing a psychologist already…. She told the psychologist that this had happened, and she [the psychologist] reported it to the police, without her consent…

These examples highlight how hearing about damaging experiences can affect the mental health professional and their own belief system, therefore affecting their actions and the therapeutic relationship.

Other mental health professionals noted how clients had disclosed their CSA experiences to their physician or therapist, and experienced subsequent sexual revictimisation. For example, MHP 11 recalled:

Another woman client, who had seen at least one therapist that I know of, she had a sexual relationship with him…

Experiences of the mental health professional either driving the therapeutic process, or violating the survivor’s boundaries are considered unhelpful and damaging. Taking control of the process disempowers survivors and mimics the abuse experience.

CSA survivors discussed how professional driven therapy resulted in them feeling extremely uncomfortable and pressured to comply with their wishes. They also reported feeling unable to communicate their dissatisfaction, often resulting in them ‘dropping out’ of therapy, which is later explored. Professionals driving therapy is in direct opposition to literature recommending that mental health professionals should attempt to be, and act, exactly the opposite of the perpetrator (Astbury, 2006) in order to restore what the abuse experience essentially robbed from them (Herman, 1992a).

6.10.2 Mental health professional appearing uncomfortable.