It saved my life – others must have that chance
10/11
IVY Oshoboke-Sunday says it is thanks to psychodynamic psychotherapy that she is no longer suicidal as a result of the sexual abuse she suffered as a child.
The 33-year-old, of Sinfin, found that therapy created a safe environment where she could talk in confidence.
This was a huge help to her mental wellbeing, bringing her to realise that the abuse "wasn't my fault, I didn't deserve what happened to me".
Now she has voiced her concerns about the possibility that fewer patients will receive this type of therapy.
She believes it is the most effective way of helping people like her and said: "I want to be a voice for all those patients out there who are vulnerable and don't have a voice."
Ivy, who has a 14-year-old daughter, added: "If I had been successful in my suicide attempt, that would have affected my daughter's life and future generations of my family."
Her views have been supported by a 38-year-old Ilkeston mother who was raped at the age of 15.
More than a decade later she was still mentally scarred by the abuse and she started psychodynamic psychotherapy in 2000.
Before beginning therapy she was in a "dreadful state", suffering from anorexia and afraid to go out alone.
But after 18 months of treatment she was eating properly, able to look after herself and, crucially, felt well enough to decide to get pregnant.
She said: "I was able to make the decision to have my daughter. I couldn't have done that without therapy."
She said her fight to make sure the therapy was as widely available as possible was "about saving lives".
"There are so many people who have told me that before they started they were lining up the tablets for an overdose but then, after getting to the end of therapy, they were living a normal life."
Source: Derbyshire Evening Telegraph, Thursday, October 20, 2011