Nearly 21 billion people around the world are currently victims of sex trafficking. Sex trafficking is the third largest international crime industry (behind illegal drugs and arms trafficking). It reportedly generated a profit of $32 billion every year. Studies in the American Journal of Public Health reveals that even rich, developed countries such as the United Kingdom rates of sex trafficking have increased. Women and girls represent the largest share of forced labor victims with 11.4 million sex victims. The average age of teens that enter the sex trade is girls from ages 12 to 14. Many of these victims had been runaway girls who had been sexually abused as children. Around 30,000 sex slaves from the ages six to 24 years old have died each year from abuse, disease, …show more content…
In addition to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression and anxiety, the American Psychological Association stress that many trafficking victims struggle to regain their independence after years of sex trafficking and require help finding housing and jobs. The majority of survivors have depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder or a more severe diagnosis: Disorders of extreme stress. In addition to these diagnoses, many victims of sex trafficking also have secondary psychological issues such as alcohol and drug abuse plus concurrent medical illnesses, which add to the psychological burden that sex trafficked victims endure. Mental health interventions often focus on identifying potential victims in healthcare centers and public places such as shopping malls. The problem, however, is that once a sex traffic person is rescued there are no prospective clinical trials to guide therapy, oftentimes by default, trauma-based cognitive behavioral therapy is used, such approaches may not be effective for those with disorders of extreme stress not otherwise