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Human trafficking is one of the most disturbing and atrocious forms of exploitation of people. Apart from affecting victims physically, it also damages their mental health significantly, thus, causing an array of health issues and complications. Due to continuously being subjected to physical and emotional violence, human trafficking victims develop mental health problems associated with the continuous feeling of guilt and worthlessness, which entails severe depression and even suicidal ideation in a number of cases.
When evaluating the effects of human trafficking on victims, mental health issues are typically brought up as the direct outcome of being exposed to continuous violence and brutality. However, to detail the full extent of mental health damage that survivors of human trafficking experience, one must define the concept of human trafficking first. Okech et al. argue that the subject matter must incorporate not only sex trafficking but also forced labor (210). To understand the extent of violence that victims of human trafficking suffer, one might want to consider the fact that human trafficking is often called modern-day slavery. Therefore, the implications of the specified phenomenon are extensively drastic.
An arrange of mental health problems can be regarded as the direct effect of human trafficking on its victims. The rapid development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is connected to human trafficking inseparably due to the extreme violence and the complete loss of agency that its victims are forced to experience (Altun et al. 23). Furthermore, Okech et al. insist that, without due social support, the threat of dysfunctional coping emerges, therefore, launching another cycle of mental health concerns and creating additional obstacles to recovery for the target demographic: participants with PTSD were more than four times as likely to have engaged in self-harm behavior (209). Therefore, as a social worker, one must identify and address dysfunctional coping cases by removing the underdeveloped coping mechanism with a healthy one.
In addition, depression, as well as anxiety and the associated mental health issues have proven to be prevalent in the target population. Specifically, the study by Altun et al. illustrates that in 78% of female trafficking survivors and in 40% of male ones, symptoms of depression, anxiety and PTSD have been found (22). Therefore, anxiety disorders and the presence of severe trauma have been unanimously considered to be recurring outcomes of human trafficking. In addition, the same study reports the emergence of depressive disorders and depression, in general, in 67% of women and 61% of men that have experienced human trafficking (Altun et al. 22). Therefore, there are strong indications that anxiety disorders, the major depressive disorder, and PTSD represent the three key outcomes which victims of human trafficking suffer.
Because of unceasing physical and psychological torture, human trafficking victims become particularly prone to having mental health problems, which range from PTSD to depression to suicidal ideation, with all three often being represented at once. Therefore, efforts must be taken to alleviate the trauma that victims of human trafficking. Specifically, approaches involving building awareness within the community, educating family members about the specifics of victim support, and the application of cognitive processing therapy along with other therapeutic approaches will have to be considered. By increasing the exposure to possible risk factors and ensuring that patients are capable of confronting them, social workers will be able to support victims of human trafficking.
Works Cited
Altun, Sukran, et al. Mental health and human trafficking: responding to survivors needs. BJPsych International 14.1 (2017): 21-23.
Okech, David, et al. Social support, dysfunctional coping, and community reintegration as predictors of PTSD among human trafficking survivors. Behavioral medicine 44.3 (2018): 209-218.
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