Conclusion
I found it unnecessary to have any further sessions with Sherry. What came across to me in the interview was that she was really disturbed by her own growing sexuality. She had participated in the sexual act to some extent, and she was not as traumatized as her parents would like to believe. As a matter of fact, her parents were more affected than she.
As the parents translated their feelings of horror and anger to Sherry, they only emerged as rejection of her as a person. They could not face the fact that their little girl had been violated. They wanted her to feel terrible. They expected it of her, and when she did not, they refused to see it. They did not want to think of her as dirty, and so they refused to see her own sexuality.
In this case, I saw the only way out through therapy for the parents. I suggested that we have a conference, but once they heard my feelings that Sherry would be fine if they could only manage to forget the incident, they balked. It is not unusual for parents to refuse the sexuality of children and to accept the truth that children do not have to be permanently damaged by an unpleasant sexual experience. I tried to get across the idea that children pick up the attitudes of the parents. If they continued to think of Sherry as damaged, she would only have to agree and act that way.
I cannot say at this writing that the outcome was entirely successful. Sherry's parents were not that amenable to my suggestions that they consider joint therapy for a little while to help them over this trauma. In such cases, it is always to deal with the children. One cannot force an adult to accept an idea.