ACC assessment too painful, says mother

An Auckland mother of three says the psychiatric test set to be imposed on sexual abuse victims as a requirement for ACC support almost killed her.

Carol, whom the Herald agreed not to identify, said she had suffered "horrific amounts" of sexual abuse by her father, and still had flashbacks despite more than three years of professional counselling.

"If ACC forced me into an assessment four years ago I'm confident I would be dead."

Last year, ACC had demanded she go through a specialised diagnosis called DSM-IV and an assessment interview if she wanted to continue receiving support for her therapy. The anxiety of reliving her abuse outside her comfort zone had pushed her to plan suicide. Three days before the interview, she had got to within "0.1 per cent" of following through with it, she said.

"I have children who I love ... [but] on those days, I lost sight of my children."

She had felt vulnerable and forced to reveal her painful history through unfamiliar channels. She gave up on ACC funding after the near suicide and paid for her weekly counselling sessions for six months. But the entire episode was repeated this year, when she again had to approach ACC for support. She had received a written apology from ACC for the previous incident, and just before Easter she contacted the corporation but staff told her they still wanted a test and interview - a prospect which she said drove her once again to near suicide.

She just wanted treatment with the therapist she trusted, she said. She had written to ACC Minister Nick Smith describing how stressful diagnostic tests could be to sexual abuse victims.