Sandra L Bloom

The #MeToo movement put a spotlight on horrific details of sexual harassment (SH) incidents and the magnitude of the shared experience of SH across the human population (Le Bars, 2022). In the wake of this movement, we are left wondering what toll SH leaves on its targets and the society that failed to prevent it. SH is a form of sexual violence (Grosser & Tyler, 2022), and in this chapter, we argue that workplace SH is a potentially traumatic event that can cause long-lasting harm, including post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD (Willness et al., 2007). The purpose of this chapter is to shine a spotlight on a "trauma-informed" perspective of workplace SH. We first define trauma and make our case that SH is a potentially traumatic event. Then, we describe common responses to trauma and how these might relate to workplace SH. Finally, we will offer a possibility for trauma-informed work organizations and the new research questions that follow from this perspective.

The first half of this chapter focuses on the perpetrators of sexual trafficking by briefly reviewing what is thus far known about the pathophysiology of psychopaths and why young women, men, and children, especially those who have already suffered adversity and trauma, would be vulnerable to their influence. This vulnerability allows them to be captured by what are malignant systems, designed to enslave them for profit. To understand why trafficking victims are so vulnerable, it is necessary to understand attachment dynamics, trauma bonding, and the development of moral intelligence because these are the very dynamics that psychopaths intuitively understand but do not feel, making it so possible for them to use their target’s inherent human qualities to manipulate them. The second half of the chapter focuses on the challenges of creating a moral climate that can help victims with very complex problems to recover and describes a new online organizational framework, Creating Presence.

To fully grasp the traumatic effects of trafficking, one must appreciate the impact of childhood adversity and repeated victimization. More often than not victims of human trafficking have experienced sexual and physical abuse from those on whom they were reliant for basic needs. Years of abuse creates a vulnerability to traffickers who, under the guise of love and protection, manipulate young victims into a life of sexual servitude and abuse. Victims endure traumatization prior to being trafficked, as well as while "in the life," and are often coerced to commit violent acts toward others. Leaving "the life" seems impossible to victims due to fear, shame and the biological impact of the trauma they have survived. Yet, victims are freed from their traffickers often with the assistance of law enforcement. This is a crucial time, as rarely do victims identify as such. They enter treatment, often by mandate, with incomplete histories and challenging symptoms. Victims are often misdiagnosed and struggle for understanding in treatment. Accurate diagnosis via understanding of the many facets of complex trauma is critical for one's successful transformation from victim to survivor. Learning Objectives At the end of the chapter, readers will be able to: 1 Understand risk factors that play a role in individuals becoming victims of trafficking; 2 Define trauma bonding and explain how it impacts a victim's ability to leave "the life" and his/her trafficker; 3 Define complex PTSD (CPTSD) and articulate why this is such an appropriate diagnosis for victims of trafficking; 4 Explain traumatic reenactment and how this phenomenon impacts trafficking victims, and why this so important for clinicians to understand; and 5 Articulate the three phases of the Sequenced Approach and explain why this method is so efficacious in work with victims/survivors.

The author of this final chapter is a psychiatrist whose expertise includes a deep understanding of the impact of traumatic stress on individuals, groups, and organizations. She calls this understanding the “science of suffering” and in doing so ties together traumatic stress studies and human rights advocacy as two inseparable discourses, functioning at two different levels within any society—the first focusing on alleviation of suffering, the other on the prevention of suffering. She reviews the changing relationship between these two discourses over time showing how that relationship has shifted depending on dominant themes within the psychiatric profession as psychiatry moves toward and then away from grappling with the social determinants of health that are irrevocably tied to human rights.

Across the millennia, the human brain has evolved to function as an integrated whole, with mind and body acting in concert, constantly adapting to a wide range of ecological challenges. The complex physiological mechanisms that have developed to accommodate this enormous flexibility are generically known as the human stress response. In the last several decades, the study of traumatic stress – capturing the most extreme mobilisation of the stress response – has garnered a significant body of knowledge and research.

In this chapter, we apply a trauma-informed public health approach to men of color, a population that is disproportionately affected by crime, violence, and involvement with the criminal justice system. Men of color are also disproportionately victims of violence, which results in higher rates of death by homicide than any other group of males, as well as higher rates of nonfatal injury. Nonfatal injury itself carries with it the risk of reinjury and death. Less often recognized are the psychological wounds of violence, trauma, and adversity, which may lead to intrusive symptoms of posttraumatic stress and depression and may predispose men of color to substance use and further violence. All of these factors together contribute to the overall poorer health of men of color, including higher rates of chronic disease, higher mortality, and a lower position on the social ladder. We examine the complex interplay of race, gender, social context, and poverty in creating traumatizing circumstances for poor boys and men, particularly brown and Black. We describe a growing movement toward understanding and addressing the consequences of trauma in the health care and criminal justice systems, especially involving both working in cross-system partnership.