Human trafficking, a form of modern-day slavery and oppression, is known as the capturing of humans to use them for forced labor, sex trafficking, and other forms of exploitation. Originating hundreds of thousands of years ago, slavery has continued to change before shaping into what is known today as human trafficking.
Anxiety, fear, trauma, PTSD, depression, and suicide ideology are all symptoms of human trafficking victims. PTSD is known as Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder. Victims, after being freed from traffickers, have to face panic attacks, agitation, nightmares, and trauma about violent past memories. It is incredibly hard to deal with, and other mental illnesses often surface. Victims can be found anywhere, but most frequently the people that deal with the most hardship include people that are runaways, homeless, in foster care, LGBTQ+ people, illegal immigrants, victims of domestic violence, among others. Several societal issues are surrounding these causes, but trafficking can be found in both developed and undeveloped countries. Targeted victims can sometimes be vulnerable and think that things are fine. Traffickers often use methods of manipulation on their victims to twist the thoughts that the victims deserve this, that they have to prove something, or that they have to do these things to protect themselves or their family. Having to face rape and abuse affects them for the rest of their life. The psychology of human trafficking goes way deeper than simply taking people for their own personal gain. It goes deep into the mental health of the trafficker, the thoughts and function of the family, and the mindset of the victim.
Furthermore, the psychology behind the mind of a trafficker is extremely important to understand all sides of the story. Traffickers distort the situation, rationalize the things they do, compare how they treat their victims to other traffickers, shift the blame to other people, and they work to dehumanize victims. While the cause of trafficking is different for everyone involved, it can often be reflected in the situation surrounding the victims or the trafficker themselves. Greed is one of the root causes of the mind of a trafficker. There is an enormous amount of money that comes with trafficking, which can be surrounding an even bigger problem in general.
Finally, familial factors have a strong influence on human trafficking. The kidnapping and capturing of people frequently occur around rich families for some kind of price or bargain. Human trafficking, however, has an interesting look at this.
When families are in poverty, survival is key, even if it means selling children into the hands of traffickers.
Even if it seems like something innocent, events like this will mess up the future of the family’s function. Throughout the process of human trafficking, threats will be made and victims will be held captive, leaving families helpless. It is often hard and quite rare for victims to find help for themselves, especially because most victims blame themselves for the events happening to them, being too scared to speak up.
Human trafficking is found anywhere, and it is extremely important to raise awareness about a topic like this if we are to make the world a better place. Anybody can do their part by sharing this article with others to spread awareness, looking out for those around you, or calling the National Trafficking Hotline located here.
To see my works cited for this article, click here.