Trauma Bonding aka 'Stockholm'

sorror777
Jul 26, 2022
6 min read

The following in an excerpt taken from the U.S. Department of State Human Trafficking website.

"...Although definitions vary, the most common meaning of trauma bonding is when a trafficker uses rewards and punishments within cycles of abuse to foster a powerful emotional connection with the victim. Traffickers may take on a role of protector to maintain control of the victim, create confusion, and develop a connection or attachment, which may include the victim feeling a sense of loyalty to or love for the trafficker. This connection, or traumatic bond, becomes especially intense when fear of the trafficker is paired with gratitude for any kindness shown. Additionally, trauma bonding, including in cases of trafficking, may occur within familial relationships in which the perpetrator could even be a parent.

Understanding Biology

To understand the complexities of trauma bonding in human trafficking, it is critical to consider the biological impact of trauma and the effects of psychological coercion on the brain. The foundations for trauma bonding are laid at the neurobiological levels. During a single incident of trauma, the limbic system, the brain’s emotion center, over-activates and the prefrontal cortex, the brain’s logic center, shuts down.

Repeated trauma exposure can negatively affect brain development and the way a person thinks, often resulting in a victim becoming numb and disconnected from themselves. Therefore, in order for them to feel something, it must be intense. For example, a trafficker’s repeated abuse and the related trauma exposure may result in a trafficking victim returning to the trafficker due to the intensity, familiarity, and routine provided by the relationship. At times, this relationship may also decrease the psychological impact of the trauma as moments of love and care from the trafficker offset experiences of anxiety or fear.

Understanding Psychological Coercion

Psychological coercion may increase the likelihood of trauma bonding. When a victim perceives a threat to their physical and psychological survival at the hands of their trafficker, trauma bonding may occur. Traffickers may isolate and threaten victims, induce exhaustion, and interfere with their believed or real ability to escape. A victim may eventually feel helpless and respond to any form of “help” or “kindness” from their trafficker with gratitude and attachment in order to survive.

Inaccessibility to other sources of support or comfort can increase the power of psychological coercion within a trauma bond. Describing the bonding that occurs in the face of danger, psychiatrist and trauma expert Bessel Van der Kolk explains, “Pain, fear, fatigue, and loss of loved ones and protectors all evoke efforts to attract increased care. When there is no access to…other sources of comfort, people may turn toward their tormentors.” Therefore, a victim’s social and economic circumstances may contribute to their developing a sense of trust and loyalty towards a trafficker. For example, lack of access to housing, healthcare, employment, income, education, or asylum may increase the likelihood of a trauma bond developing.

Impact on Service Delivery

When a trafficking victim who has experienced trauma bonding seeks assistance, government officials and service providers must recognize that survivors may behave in ways that seem incongruous with typical expectations of victimization...."

*** "Within human trafficking, trauma bonding may cause coerced co-offending, perceived ambivalence, delayed or inaccurate reporting, or unwillingness to cooperate with law enforcement."

Trauma Bonding in Human Trafficking - United States Department of State

Every survivor has their own personal experiences with trauma, and in many ways the things we do to stay alive, and sane enough to function during trafficking are exactly the same survival mechanisms that later leave our honesty, integrity, and the validity of what we are saying skeptically in question.

Physical trauma and Mental trauma are both very real occurrences. Physical trauma is easier to understand because it is visible, tangible, we can see it and hear it. What many do not understand is that mental trauma creates many of the same physiological reactions in the body as physical trauma does. Shock for example. When a traumatic injury occurs, there is a progressive series of events that happen quite predictably in the same order every time. It is important to note, however, that while the events happen in the same order, the time it takes for each portion of the events to complete themselves varies person by person and injury by injury. These events break down as follows.

Traumatic injury - this can be a physical or psychological event that causes trauma to the being and or body that the event induces a permanent change to the nervous and or endocrine systems
Initial acute pain, injury, shock - onset of event / injury, this is 'ground zero', the core event that caused the damage to the nervous and or endocrine systems in the body. It is important to note that in many cases additional trauma occurs by events that postdate the onset event. This is called the 'trickle effect'. Many things can trigger this. The survivor not being believed, the trauma being repeated, law enforcement response or lack thereof, improper medical care, exploitation of the trauma by trusted individuals such as family members, are just a few examples.
Replay / Flashback period - this is the period that is of the most use to law enforcement investigations. This is the window of time before the healing begins and emotional scarring covers up the worst of the memories in order to 'heal' the survivor. In many ways this is very helpful for the survivor as great blocks of memories and information get 'glossed over', forgotten, and become hazy to the survivor. This is a healing process of the mind similar to a scab that would form over a wound on the physical body. Ultimately #4 below. However, before that happens there is a window of time when the injury has 'healed' enough that the survivor is out of the shock of the initial traumatic event, however the memories of the event are still fresh and have not been scabbed over yet. **It is important to note that this is also the window of time that the abuser / narcissist will start the 'love bombing' phase which will flush the body with dopamine, oxytocin, and norepinephrine which will overwhelm the body with feelings of general well-being, being secure, feeling at peace...
Scarring period - this is a period after the healing has been completed enough that the survivor is able to perform basic functions again. The healing is not complete, but it is finished enough that the victim is no longer acute. This is also the time period when the abuser / narcissist will start to expect that the survivor 'get over it', and 'stop being so sensitive'. They will make demands of the survivor that are above their healed abilities which will keep the victim confused, and in an incessant weakened state. This is also the period when the love bombing stops and the insults and abuses from the abuser / narcissist begin anew. Thus mental 'scar tissue' forms so that the survivor is able to cope and still function at the level the abuser demands. Weak enough not to be able to fight back, leave, or in many cases even recognize the abuses because of the constant confusion and endocrine chemical manipulations.
Acceptance - the period in time after the healing and 'scarring' is complete and what has been 'rebuilt' during the healing process emerges. This is the point when a survivor either breaks free or begins the cycle with the abuser again. By this stage, many times it is too late for law enforcement, or social workers to 'help' as the trauma bond has already been created in stage #3 and scarred over in stage #4 creating a neural pathway and endocrine responses in the survivor that are tied to the abuser. Memories have also been forgotten and scarred over as a mechanism to heal and protect the survivor. Law enforcement will notice that statements taken in this period will have far fewer details, and memories will be much hazier, or nonexistent as depending on the severity of the trauma bond the survivor may not be willing to help law enforcement at all.
Re-emergence - the traumatic event either re-occurs, or an event happens that triggers the scarred over memories in the survivor that causes the memories of the traumatic event to reemerge. This can be very unsettling and overwhelming for survivors as going from a state of no memory, or feeling, or emotion about the event(s), to suddenly having the senses overwhelmed by it can send the survivor back to stage #3 aka a 'flashback'. Flashbacks in many cases will cause the same nervous and endocrine response in the survivor as when the initial traumatic event occurred. The adrenaline and cortisol that are released in the body during these periods can leave the body feeling exhausted, depressed, and drained.