Violence, trafficking and migration: post-traumatic disorder and the chronicisation of evil

Abstract

This article addresses the issue of human trafficking and smuggling, particularly of migrant women forced into prostitution in Italy. It analyses, through ethnographic research using the device of narrative medicine, the victims' somatic and psychological experience and malaise.  Firstly, it explores the difference between trafficking and trafficking and the forms of violence to which most migrant women are forced; secondly, it focuses on post-traumatic stress disorder and chronic forms of mental illness.