Trauma Bonding
Definition
A psychological attachment formed under conditions of intermittent reinforcement (abuse alternating with care), captivity, and dependency. Creates loyalty or protective feelings toward the exploiter that actively compete with a victim's recognition of their own danger and undermine voluntary disclosure.
- Mechanism
- Intermittent reinforcement of abuse and care
- Context
- Captivity and dependency
- Effect
- Loyalty or protective feelings toward the exploiter
- Clinical relevance
- Undermines voluntary disclosure
- Field
- Human trafficking victim response
Common questions
Why does trauma bonding make interviewing a trafficking victim harder?+
A victim may minimise the exploiter's actions, decline to cooperate, or even defend the trafficker during questioning, not out of dishonesty but because the bond formed under captivity competes directly with the victim's own safety interests.
How should an interviewer account for trauma bonding without dismissing the victim's account?+
By recognising ambivalence or protectiveness toward the exploiter as a known trauma response rather than evidence of a false or unreliable account, and by pacing disclosure over multiple contacts rather than pressing for a complete statement immediately.
Related terms
- Human Trafficking
- The recruitment, transportation, harbouring, or receipt of persons by force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of exploitation. Defined in the UN...
- Labour Trafficking
- Compelled labour or services through force, fraud, or coercion. Sectors include agriculture, domestic work, construction, garment factories, and restaurant and hotel industries....
- National Referral Mechanism (NRM)
- The UK government framework for identifying victims of modern slavery and ensuring they receive appropriate support. Healthcare workers are designated first responders...
- PEARR Tool
- A structured framework for healthcare encounters with possible trafficking victims: Provide privacy, Educate about available services, Ask questions in a trauma-informed way,...
- Sex Trafficking
- Recruitment, harbouring, or obtaining a person for a commercial sex act by force, fraud, or coercion, or where the victim is a...