Symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder and mental health in women who escaped prostitution and helping activists in shelters

Purpose: This study compared the mental symtoms, especially symtoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), who escaped prostitution, helping activists at shelters, and matched control subjects. Material and Methods: We assessed 113 female ex-prostitutes who had been living at a shelters 81 helping activists, and 65 control subjects using self-reporting questionnaires on demographic data, symptoms related to trauma and PTSD, stress-related reactions, and other mental health factors. Results: Female ex-prostitutes had significantly higher stress response, somatization, depression, fatigue, frustration, sleep, smoking and alcohol problems, and more frequent and serious PTSD symptoms than the other 2 groups. Helping activists also had significantly higher tension, sleep and smoking problems, and more frequent and serious PTSD symptoms than control subjects. Conclusion: These findings show that engagement in prostitution may increase the risks of exposue to violence, which may psychologically traumatize not only the prostitutes themselves but also the people who help them, and that the effects of the trauma last for a long time. Future research is needed to develop a method to assess specific factors that may contribute to vicarious trauma of prostitution, and protect field workers of prostitute victims from vicarious trauma.