For the most part, the healthcare establishment has no idea how to help survivors of human trafficking recover.
That’s the conclusion of a research letter and accompanying editorial appearing today in Annals of Internal Medicine.
Frustrated mental health therapists are presented with a multitude of behaviors from these victims of living hell: Acute anger; not just PTSD, but chronic PTSD (my diagnosis); flashbacks, night terrors, hostility, aggression, shame, guilt and fear.
Physically, the survivors have additional problems: Sexually transmitted diseases, up to and including HIV and/or Hepatitis C; skin problems, chronic pain syndromes, malnutrition, and, above all…
Substance abuse disorders.
“Substance use … is prevalent in trafficking and may persist afterward as a means of coping with physical and psychological symptoms,” the authors of the research letter explained. “Although substance use may predate trafficking as a factor making a person vulnerable to exploitation (me), the forced use of drugs and alcohol to foster dependence among victims is common.”
And that’s exactly the story of what happened to me after I moved back to the Quad-Cities from Los Angeles.
Sex you don’t want to have under the influence – to the point of being disabled – is abuse.