Human Trafficking Victims Have High Rates of PTSD, Depression

A new study by researchers from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King’s College London provides the first clinical evidence on the toll human trafficking has on mental health, including high levels of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression, amongst a patient population in South London.

Human trafficking is the recruitment and movement of people, by means such as deception and coercion, for the purposes of exploitation.

The UK Home Office has estimated that in 2013 there were between 10,000 and 13,000 trafficked people in the UK, including people trafficked for forced sex work, domestic servitude, and labour exploitation in a multitude of industries, including agriculture, construction, and food packaging and processing. This study, published today in The Lancet Psychiatry, is the first to examine clinical and sociodemographic characteristics of trafficked people who have severe mental illness.

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