‘Colonising the field’: feminism vs psychiatry explores the schism that existed between feminist/survivor activists and clinicians (doctors, psychiatrists and psychologists) in 1980s Britain. The chapter opens with a report by a member of the Incest Survivors’ Campaign of her experience at a national child abuse conference in 1982, which encapsulates the tensions between the two separate factions in this period. Each laid claim to special expertise in the area of child sexual abuse; but these were built on contrasting beliefs about gender relations, family functioning, the causes and dynamics of child sexual abuse and what action should be taken to combat it. Medics and psychiatrists believed that their efforts were progressive in shifting the emphasis away from a criminal justice approach to a model that offered each family member a chance to heal and repair their relationships. Survivors objected to ‘expert’ psychiatric models that portrayed women and girls as complicit or partially responsible for sexual abuse. They were critical of doctors and psychiatrists who ‘colonised the field,’ attracting financial, political and media support for their preferred models of practice. While the ‘experts’ built successful careers, feminist organisations struggled to get unbiased media coverage and access to financial resources for survivor-led services.