psychological perspectives on human trafficking: theory, research, prevention, and intervention

This book explores human trafficking through various psychological frameworks, summarizing the definitions and types of trafficking, their social and individual impacts, and the ways in which mental health practitioners can raise awareness and provide care to survivors.

The crime of human trafficking affects millions of people worldwide. This volume aims to aid mental health care professionals in supporting and treating survivors of human trafficking, developing methods of assistance and prevention, and serving as advocates in the global effort to prevent trafficking. It explores human trafficking through various psychological frameworks, and summarizes research on different types of trafficking--including sex trafficking and labor trafficking--as well as their social and individual impacts, and demonstrates how mental health practitioners can raise awareness and provide care to survivors.

Chapters examine theoretical perspectives on the psychology of trafficking and its effects on marginalized communities using clinical, social, and industrial/organizational psychology frameworks. Expert contributors use developmental, positive, and liberation psychology approaches to explain the social determinants of trafficking and provide opportunities for prevention and intervention. They examine public perceptions of trafficking and how those perceptions are influenced by the media, and highlight the importance of psychologists’ involvement in multidisciplinary care teams as they seek strategies for positive change.

Laura Dryjanksa, PhD, is an associate professor at Biola University in the Rosemead School of Psychology. Since 2009, she has been active on the Shadow Children Committee in Italy, which is dedicated to raising funds for shelters for ＂street children＂ in different countries and organizing conferences on this topic. In addition to publishing articles and book chapters on the topic of sex trafficking, objectification, and dehumanization, she has implemented a number of human trafficking awareness-raising initiatives at Biola University and in service organizations in Italy and Southern California. She has presented on the topic of human trafficking during scientific and advocacy-oriented events, including the European Association of Social Psychology meeting in Trento (Italy) in 2015, the APA Convention in Toronto in 2015, the APA Convention in Washington, DC. in 2017, the APA Convention in San Francisco in 2018, and APA Convention in San Diego in 2020, as well as networked with other scientists and activists during the Freedom from Slavery Forum in Palo Alto in 2017 and regular meetings of the Orange Country Human Trafficking Task Force. She has developed two courses on human trafficking for psychology undergraduate and graduate students, as well as an online lifelong learning course.

Elizabeth K. Hopper, PhD, is a licensed clinical psychologist with a focus on human trafficking and traumatic stress. She is codirector of the National Center on Child Trafficking (NCCT), a federally funded program focused on improving care for trafficked and commercially sexually exploited children and their families. Dr. Hopper is also Project Director of the Metropolitan Boston Complex Trauma Treatment Initiative, a mobile service network delivering evidence-based trauma interventions to high-risk and underserved complex trauma-exposed children and youth and families. She was previously the director of Project REACH, a national anti-trafficking direct services and T/TA program, and director of the New England Coalition Against Trafficking. Dr. Hopper serves as an expert consultant for nonprofits and federal agencies, including the Department of Health and Human Services (NHTTAC) and the Department of Justice (OVCTTAC), and has collaborated with multiple agencies and organizations in developing trauma-informed care systems. She is coauthor of Treating Adult Survivors of Childhood Emotional Abuse and Neglect: Component-Based Psychotherapy and Overcoming Trauma Through Yoga: Reclaiming Your Body and has written numerous scholarly articles and book chapters on developmental trauma, trauma-informed care, and human trafficking.

Hanni Stoklosa, MD, MPH, is the founding CEO of HEAL Trafficking and an emergency physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) with appointments at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative. Dr. Stoklosa is an internationally recognized expert, advocate, researcher, and speaker on the wellbeing of trafficking survivors in the United States and internationally, using a public health lens. She has advised the United Nations, International Organization for Migration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Department of State, and the National Academy of Medicine on issues of human trafficking and has testified as an expert witness multiple times before the U.S. Congress. Moreover, she has conducted research on trafficking and persons facing the most significant social, economic, and health challenges in a diversity of settings including Australia, China, Egypt, Guatemala, India, Liberia, Nepal, Kazakhstan, the Philippines, South Sudan, Taiwan, and Thailand. Among other accolades, Dr. Stoklosa has been honored with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Women’s Health Emerging Leader award, the Harvard Medical School Dean’s Faculty Community Service award, has been named as an Aspen Health Innovator and National Academy of Medicine Emerging Leader. Her anti-trafficking work has been featured by CNN, The New York Times, National Public Radio, Fortune, Glamour, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, STAT News, and Marketplace. Dr. Stoklosa published the first textbook addressing the public health response to trafficking, Human Trafficking Is a Public Health Issue, A Paradigm Expansion in the United States.