In 1995 a 13-year-old boy committed suicide having been told he could not have counselling in the long run-up to his abuser's trial. His mother said: He was desperate to talk to someone. But social workers said there was no possibility of discussing the abuse before the trial. They did not want to contaminate the evidence." His abuser was later jailed for four years for offences against other boys. Nearly two decades on, we do not appear to have learned the lesson from his unnecessary death, with another victim killing herself. Frances Andrade was held back from therapy as she was forced to relive her abuse in constant pre-trial interviews over two years and was then brutally humiliated in court. Malign attacks in the 1990s on psychotherapists by those accused of abuse in an effort to discredit their adult children's stories have left a false impression. The purpose of therapy is to provide a container for patients' often unbearable feelings and help them to move on. It leads to a more not less coherent witnessing of the past. Perhaps that is why it arouses such hostility in those who are desperate to bury what happened - accused abusers and their defence teams.