Trauma Bonding Perspectives From Service Providers and Survivors of Sex Trafficking: A Scoping Review

Abstract

A trauma bond is an emotional attachment between an abuser and victim. Trauma bonds in sex trafficking compel victims to submit to continued exploitation and protect the trafficker. This scoping review examines trauma bonds in sex trafficking situations, its conceptualizations, and key characteristics. Ten databases were searched using sex trafficking AND trauma bonding–related terms; sex trafficking AND Stockholm syndrome, attachment, coercion, and manipulation. Articles were included if they featured trauma bonding, were published in English after 2013, or featured sex trafficking victims or traffickers in a Western country. Fifteen articles were included. The features of trauma bonding identified in these articles were (1) imbalance of power that favors trafficker, (2) traffickers’ deliberate use of positive and negative interactions, (3) victim’s gratitude for positive interactions and self-blame for the negative, and (4) victim’s internalization of perpetrator’s view. We also identified four aspects related to trauma bonding: (1) prior trauma made victims vulnerable, (2) victim’s feelings of love remained even after exiting trafficking, (3) love is why victims do not prosecute traffickers, and (4) traffickers’ intentional cultivation of the trauma bond. No article indicated how trauma bonds could be severed and replaced with healthy attachments. These findings reveal the need for practitioners and law enforcement and criminal justice professionals to address trauma bonding in both trafficking and posttrafficking situations. The findings also represent potential targets for urgently needed interventions that promote the replacement of trauma bonds with healthy attachments.

Trafficking trauma: a review on the psychological effects of human trafficking

“…The relationship between mental disorders and human trafficking has been frequently discussed in past studies (Levine, 2017;Ravi et al, 2017;Casassa et al, 2021;Chambers et al, 2022). Three mental disorders which have been proposed by many researchers are: post-Trafficking Trauma: the psychological effects of human trafficking.…”

“There's a lot missing”: Treating survivors of sex trafficking with trauma bonds

“…In addition to a general consensus surrounding the definition of trauma bonding, Casassa et al (2021) also identified four key aspects of trauma bonding that emerged from the literature: (1) a strong association between susceptibility to trauma bonding and prior abusive and exploitative experiences, specifically in childhood; (2) survivors' conviction of their love for their trafficker, which often persists even after exiting their trafficking situation; (3) feelings of affection motivate survivors to protect traffickers from legal consequences; and (4) traffickers' intentional exploitation of emotional vulnerabilities and basic attachment needs (i.e., love, safety, affection) in order to develop a traumatic bond. The paradoxical nature of trauma bonds has significant implications for survivors of sex trafficking (Casassa et al, 2021): (1) attachment to the perpetrator prevents survivors from leaving abusive situations (Baldwin et al, 2015;Reid et al, 2013); (2) attachments motivate survivors to protect perpetrators from legal consequences (Clawson et al, 2008;Nichols, 2016); and (3) survivors grow distrustful of outside or institutional systems that can offer help or protection (i.e., social services and police) as they internalize the perpetrator's perceptions of such systems as well as a sense of guilt (Sanchez et al, 2019), making survivors unlikely to utilize such services even when presented with the opportunity to do so. Thus, the development of trauma bonds themselves perpetuates physical, emotional, and mental exploitation.…”

“…Deleterious effects of complex trauma in conjunction with traffickers’ exploitative methods can produce trauma bonds that are extremely difficult to resolve (Reid et al, 2013). Trauma bonds refer to maladaptive emotional attachments that develop between victims and abusers across a variety of exploitive relationships (Casassa et al, 2021; Hopper, 2017a; Reid et al, 2013). Such attachments are fostered through cycles of abuse in which aversive arousal is alternated with relief, stimulating an intense attachment towards the abuser that is difficult to resolve (Dutton & Painter, 1993).…”

“…Although the development of trauma bonds is widely acknowledged among practitioners within the field of sex trafficking, this phenomenon remains severely understudied (Casassa et al, 2021; Raghavan & Doychak, 2015). A recent scoping review on trauma bonds among sex trafficking survivors explored how current literature defines trauma bonds regarding this population (Casassa et al, 2021).…”

“…Although the development of trauma bonds is widely acknowledged among practitioners within the field of sex trafficking, this phenomenon remains severely understudied (Casassa et al, 2021; Raghavan & Doychak, 2015). A recent scoping review on trauma bonds among sex trafficking survivors explored how current literature defines trauma bonds regarding this population (Casassa et al, 2021). While an earlier review of the wider literature noted the dearth of a universally accepted definition or diagnostic criteria for trauma bonding (Reid et al, 2013), Casassa et al (2021) found descriptions and definitions of trauma bonding to be relatively similar across studies.…”