The city does not have enough trained counsellors to handle the number of cases.
The Mira Road incest case and several others that have come to light recently have proved beyond doubt that child sexual abuse is not just “someone else’s problem” anymore. And yet the city simply does not have enough trained counsellors to handle the rising number of child sexual abuse victims.
“Victims of sexual abuse need to be handled delicately. You need to be suitably trained for this,” said Sharada Padmanabhan, a counsellor who has worked with victims of child sexual abuse.
There is no directory of child sex abuse counsellors though one is currently being compiled by the Bombay Psychiatric Association. There are less than five NGOs in the city working for the welfare of children.
Child sexual abuse is very traumatic and the victim rarely talks about it. In the past two and half years, Arpan, an NGO which works for the welfare of victims of child sexual abuse, has counselled 30 victims. “Many of my clients are so traumatised that they insist on remaining anonymous, and want counselling over the phone or the internet,” said Pushpa Venkatraman, counsellor and trainer for child sexual abuse programmes at Arpan. Unfortunately, many mental health professionals and even psychiatrists don’t ask the ‘right’ questions, she added.
“Patients may consult us for aggressive behaviour, infidelity and other psychological symptoms. But when we delve deeper, we find out that the problem actually stems from child sexual abuse,” said Dr Yusuf Matcheswalla, psychiatrist.
Victims may show symptoms such as constant need for approval and appreciation, etc. Invariably sexual abuse affects development, particularly the sexual development of the child (they may either become hyper sexual or hypo sexual), they are unable to have relationships, suffer from post traumatic stress disorder, phobias such as fear of dark places etc, he added.
“It is up to the counsellor to instill confidence and get the victim to open up. But many a times, this is simply not possible as the victim is not willing to open up about the past,” said Dr Arun Sidwani, psychologist and personality development expert.
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