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.

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While societal and structural factors often constrain women’s agency in patriarchal settings, women nevertheless find creative ways to manifest and develop agency. Female sex workers (FSWs), in particular, are regularly assumed to have little or no agency, but an important body of literature suggests otherwise. To add to this knowledge, this study sought to answer the question: How do FSWs in Mumbai, India, exert agency in personal and professional contexts? In-depth interviews were conducted with 12 FSWs in the Kamathipura red-light area. Four themes emerged: (a) sex work as a rational and empowering choice, (b) resources and assets, (c) sex work as a means of achievement, and (d) managing violence, retribution, and fear. These themes reveal expressions of agency that illustrate how sex workers are intentional, rational, goal-oriented, and resilient. The findings of this study can contribute to the removal of stigma surrounding sex work and inform service providers working with this population in their efforts to treat sex workers with dignity and respect. Further research is needed in this area, especially which centers on the voices of the agentic sex workers themselves.

There is a dearth of research on trauma bonding among victims of sex trafficking. This study aims to fill this gap by seeking to understand how service providers working with survivors of sex trafficking conceptualize and observe trauma bonding in their clients. This qualitative study involved interviews with 10 participants. Purposeful sampling was employed among licensed social workers or counselors. Two themes emerged: defining trauma bonding (with four subthemes: embracing intensity, power imbalance, distortion of love, and inescapability) and the development of trauma bonds (with three subthemes: universality, gendered, and grooming). These findings provide much-needed insight into the complexities of trauma bonding.

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