What is it about?
Victims and survivors of many forms of trauma may experience difficulties trusting others enough to engage even in healing relationships. For victims and survivors of human trafficking, the exploitative experience can intensify trust issues. Hence, providers who work with victims/survivors of human trafficking need to be skilled at addressing the relational consequences of this human rights abuse and crime, and this article provides an initial framework to that end.
Featured Image
Why is it important?
The article provides the reader with three treatment vignettes that offer common human trafficking scenarios, including cases of domestic and international sex trafficking in the United States.
Perspectives
The relational consequences of human trafficking are sometimes overlooked to privilege attention to the body symptoms that also result from trauma. Stabilization of body symptoms is essential to recovery. However, treatment without a good enough therapeutic alliance is defunct before it can even start. Hence, addressing trust issues in cases of extreme traumas and polyvictimization such as human trafficking needs to be the priority and remain a focal point throughout the treatment relationship.
Paola Contreras
William James College
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Psychotherapy in the Aftermath of Human Trafficking: Working Through the Consequences of Psychological Coercion, Women & Therapy, October 2016, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/02703149.2016.1205908.
You can read the full text:
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
