海角社区

海角社区鈥檚 (海角社区鈥檚) Human Trafficking Research Hub (HTRH), a community of scholars, clinicians, and survivors, has published The Roles of Adult Attachment and Complex Trauma in Sex Trafficking-Related Coercive Bonding: Entry, Entrapment, and the Challenges of Exiting in Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy. To view this open access publication, . 

The work represents extensive collaboration both within 海角社区 and with external community partners. The research team consisted of 19 members, 13 of whom have a 海角社区 affiliation. Team members have affiliations with three 海角社区 departments, Counseling and Behavioral Health, Clinical Psychology, and Organizational and Leadership Psychology, and include students, faculty, and alums. The research was funded by 海角社区鈥檚 Faculty Seed Grant and the Manuscript Development Award, Wisdom Lotus Foundation, International Psychoanalytic Association, Ready.Inspire.Act (RIA, Inc.), and the MetroWest Health Foundation.

The results of the study 鈥� which both document traffickers鈥� use of coercion techniques and point to paths of healing for victims 鈥� are expected to inform legal and clinical practice. Professor Paola M. Contreras, PsyD, Director of the Human Trafficking Research Hub, said, 鈥淭he 45 participants of this study, who we thank profoundly, provided us with knowledge about how the commercial sex environment can turn coercive. Our findings discuss the struggles that those trafficked in commercial sex encounter. Yet, what stood out most were the participants鈥� strengths in the face of adversity. Providers sometimes have negative views and reactions to people who leave and go back to a trafficker. However, the HTRH team observed that those who tried to leave, often multiple times (in this study largely people with a secure attachment pattern), had many strengths that helped them finally exit over time.鈥�

For more information about the Hub, its work, and its people, visit our website.

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