Things Survivors Wish You Knew About Psychological Coercion
Psychological coercion is an important concept to understand when it comes to the powerful dynamics of human trafficking. Dr. Evan Stark likens psychological coercion to being taken hostage: “The victim becomes captive in an unreal world created by the abuser, entrapped in a world of confusion, contradiction, and fear.” Psychological coercion is an intentional pattern of behavior (often used alongside other forms of abuse) which can include threats, excessive regulation, intimidation, humiliation, and forced isolation. It is designed to punish, dominate, exploit, exhaust, create fear and confusion, and increase dependency. It strips a person of their identity and breaks down the very core of who they are.
Using psychological coercion, traffickers continuously chip away at the autonomy and identity of victims. Community. Hannah is a Dressember blog contributor and Citlali, Sean and Faith are members of Dressember Network partner ECPAT-USA’s Survivor’s Council. Because it is such a foundational element to many trafficking situations, they are highlighting what they wish you knew about the process of psychological coercion.
Invading the Mind
One way traffickers utilize coercive control is by invading the mind. This can look like manipulation, minimization, denial and lies, promises and excuses, and blaming others. Faith says, “My trafficker would manipulate the concept of love and say, ‘If you love me, you’ll do this for me.’” Traffickers erode a victim’s sense of reality and purposefully undermine their perceptions and experiences. Over time, victims may become emotionally and mentally battered, and their psyches may accept manipulation as fact. If a trafficker tells a victim that no one else could ever love them and then manipulates situations so that perception becomes the victim’s reality, then the trafficker becomes right. Citlali shares, “Psychological coercion makes it hard to leave because you start believing that being there is what’s best for you, as if your trafficker is saving you. I made excuses for him and his violent behavior towards me, and after a while, I started blaming myself for the abuse.”
Invading Privacy
Traffickers tend to micromanage every facet of a victim’s life as a way to exert control. Through stalking, surveillance, unwanted contact, and extreme jealousy, traffickers break down a victim’s boundaries. Hannah experienced this: “My trafficker tracked everything I did – where I went, who I talked to, what I did.” The John Jay College of Criminal Justice at the City University of New York did a study on coercive control and its role in sex trafficking relationships. The study revealed how the victims were subjected to long term micro-regulation and surveillance with intimidation and aggression, which predictably led to exhaustion from the victims and compliance with the demands of their trafficker.
Invading the Body
When traffickers control a victim’s access to basic needs, deny medical care, or exert physical violence, they are invading the body of victims. Traffickers condition victims by denying basic necessities. Faith says, “I still skip meals and control my food in ways that I was trained to do when I was being trafficked.” If the victim is obedient and complies with the trafficker’s orders, they are given access to satisfy their basic needs. If the victim resists, basic necessities are denied until the victim learns to comply. Sean’s traffickers invaded his body by physically abusing him: “They beat me on my backside. Not hard enough to leave bruises, but hard enough to reinforce their message.” By invading the body, the trafficker is ensuring a victim is completely dependent on them, and it’s through this dependency that the trafficker is able to exercise control through nearly any means.
Invading Spheres of Influence
With psychological coercion, there is a loss of connection with others. Traffickers usually limit interaction and communication between a victim and their friends, family, and others who could act as advocates. Faith’s trafficker isolated her, “I was afraid to speak to other people.” Isolation is a tactic that traffickers use to weaken a victim, prevent them from hearing other perspectives, and to bring them into line with their beliefs and requirements. The victim becomes entirely secluded from the world around them and, with that absence of connection, a dependency on the trafficker is formed to meet all social and emotional needs. Isolation also reduces the opportunity of the victim receiving help. The degree of power and control over the victim has contingency upon the degree of their physical and emotional isolation.
It doesn’t take millions of dollars or a massive amount of social power to create an exploitative situation for a vulnerable person. Often, a simple promise of love alone can set the stage for the breach of trust, and abuse of power inherent for trafficking. Trafficking is, by design, punishing, dominating, exploiting, exhausting, and the tactics traffickers use strip a person of their identity and break down the very core of who they are. It’s important to understand the psychological trauma victims experience so that we can adequately support survivors toward rebuilding their lives and reimagining their future and their own identity.
About the Author
Hannah Blair has a Bachelor’s in Sociology and is working on an MA in Social Justice and Human Rights, as well as her certification in Biblical counseling. As a survivor herself, her career end goal is to work with other trafficking survivors. She has a background in marketing and communications, social media management, and blog writing. She tells her story at churches and other events and has assisted with trainings for South Alabama law enforcement agencies. Hannah is a single mom to a rambunctious toddler who keeps her on her toes! She enjoys running, cooking, and most importantly, napping.