Counselling adults who were abused as children: Clients' perceptions of efficacy, client-counsellor communication, and dissatisfaction

Despite the amount of clinical material relating to adults who were abused as children, there is a dearth of research which has examined the effectiveness of counselling such clients. In order to examine the perceived efficacy of counselling with this client group, a total of 53 in-depth interviews were undertaken with a sample that included adults abused as children who had received counselling, counsellors working with this client group, and counselors-who-were-abused-as-children. The findings indicate that there are many similarities in what abused clients and the general client population judged to be helpful and unhelpful factors in counselling. However, certain aspects of the counsellor-client relationship appear to have specific impacts and meaning for an abused client group, especially when they have little prior knowledge or experience of counselling. Data are presented relating to clients' evaluations of counselling. These illustrate clinically relevant issues in relation to communication and experiences of dissatisfaction. One conclusion from the study is that in terms of their responses to counselling, it is simplistic for adults who were abused as children to be categorisied as a unitary group. Nevertheless, there are certain aspects of counselling with such clients which do merit particular attention if practitioners are to minimise the possibility of counselling being ineffective, unhelpful or, at worst, re-traumarising.