Women survivors’ accounts of seeing psychologists: harm or benefit?

Abstract

Many women who experience intimate partner violence are left with significant and long-lasting mental health effects resulting in survivors seeking help from psychologists. However, the voices of women who have sought such help are mostly absent in research. To address this gap, we interviewed 20 women survivors of intimate partner violence about their experiences when seeing psychologists. We analysed this data thematically and developed two main themes relating to women’s experiences of psychologists after intimate partner violence. These themes were: mirroring abuse or being supportive and it did me quite a bit of damage. Our research suggests that these women experienced suboptimal mental healthcare after intimate partner violence and that the effects of this were not neutral but were damaging. Positive experiences suggested that these women appreciated practices aligned with feminist and trauma and violence-informed approaches. This study fills in some details about women’s experiences, which can be used to further inform trauma and violence-informed approaches.<br/ ><br/ >Key messages:<br/ >Women reported psychologists mirroring the abusive behaviours of intimate partner violence.<br/ ><br/ >When psychologists mirrored abusive behaviours, women reported re-traumatisation and inhibited help-seeking.<br/ ><br/ >Women reported positive experiences leading to healing and new directions when the care aligned with trauma and violence-informed approaches.