Two in five trafficking survivors have PTSD, and a fifth have attempted suicide

The edition in brief

The largest item today is a global systematic review and meta-analysis of mental health among survivors of trafficking for sexual exploitation. Across 18 studies, pooled prevalence was 44.0% for PTSD (95% CI 30.3 to 58.7), 50.5% for depression, 52.3% for anxiety and 19.1% for attempted suicide. Heterogeneity was extreme, with I-squared between 96.9 and 98.9 per cent and a prediction interval for PTSD of 7.0 to 89.1 per cent, so the figures justify routine screening and trauma-informed pathways rather than precise population claims. A JAMA Psychiatry scoping review of 134 studies and 151,134 participants finds that the terms neurodivergent and neurodiverse are anchored to diagnosis in only a minority of studies: 41.8 per cent used self-reported diagnoses, 37.3 per cent self-identification, and 21.6 per cent specified no diagnosis at all, with autism in 68.7 per cent and ADHD in 64.2 per cent of studies. In weight-restored anorexia nervosa, a vibrating-capsule crossover trial in 62 patients and 57 comparators found reduced accuracy detecting gut stimulation (Cohen d −0.98) and higher miss rates (d 1.02); initial prior beliefs, response bias and stomach unpleasantness each predicted relapse at six months, with odds ratios between 3.82 and 5.73 and confidence intervals almost touching 1. A Finnish register study of 604,819 people found peers' family genetic risk scores and peers' own diagnoses associated with later disorder, strongest in upper secondary school (hazard ratios 1.34 and 1.17). Finally, a narrative review sets out the 25-year case for low-dose lithium in mild cognitive impairment — plausible, cheap, and still without a definitive trial.