Types and Signs of Abuse Research
Types and Signs of Abuse Research
Physical abuse is the non-accidental use of physical force to coerce or to intentionally inflict bodily harm to another person. It often causes physical discomfort, pain or injury, but the person affected does not have to have an injury to have experienced physical abuse.Physical abuse may include, for example: Types and Signs of Abuse Research
* Beating the person
* Punching or slapping
* Burning or scalding
* Pushing or shoving
* Hitting with a hand or instrument or slapping
* Rough handling or physical coercion
* Stabbing with an object
* Tripping them over
* Spitting on them
* Tying them to furniture
* Using or misusing physical restraints
* Restraining them through the use of alcohol, tranquillizers or other medication
* Forcing them to remain in beds or chairs
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* Forcing them to remain in rooms (including locking them in)
Caring for someone who is frail or who has special needs can be very stressful. In many cases, other contributory factors are also present and this additional stress on the carer appears to be the factor that triggers the abuse. The following factors may contribute to an abusive relationship:
* Financial difficulties
* Lack of respite care
* Inadequate support to give high quality care
* Heavy physical or emotional cost of the carer
* Lack of recognition for the role—affecting health and wellbeing of carer
* Personal stress, i.e. looking after an adult as well as own children
* Unfamiliarity with the role of caring for someone and the responsibilities involved. Types and Signs of Abuse Research
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Many reasons can cause this type of abuse. For example, the abuser may suffer with a mental illness or they had a difficult growing up as a child and they were not taught their primary socialisation skills. The abuser may be angry and upset and they like to take it out on other people to make them understand how they feel. The abuser’s marriage may have been failing which means there are a lot of arguments. The abuser may feel confused and disorientated and doesn’t understand what it going on.
Emotional/ Psychological Abuse
Emotional/ psychological abuse can happen to anyone. It can happen when the abuser makes comments that make sure their victim feels isolated and try to lower your self-esteem. It is a form of abuse characterized by a person subjecting or exposing another to behaviour that may result in psychological trauma, including anxiety, chronic depression, or post-traumatic stress disorder.
* Threats of violence or abandonment
* Intentionally frightening
* Making an individual fear that they will not receive the food or care they need
* Failing to check allegations of abuse against them
* Making derogative or slanderous statements about an individual to others
* Socially isolating an individual, failing to let them have visitors
* Withholding important information
* Demeaning an individual because of the language they speak
* Intentionally misinterpreting traditional practices Types and Signs of Abuse Research
* Repeatedly raising the issue of death
* Telling an individual that they are too much trouble
* Ignoring or excessively criticizing
* Being over-familiar and disrespectful
* Unreasonably ordering an individual around; treating an individual like a servant
Signs & symptoms of emotional/ psychological abuse:
* Anxiety
* Depression
* Withdrawn, isolated
* Feelings of guilt
* Low self-esteem
* Tying them to furniture
* Insomnia
* Self-harm
* Feeling threatened/ frightened
* Unexpected changes in behaviour i.e. acting angry or upset
This type of abuse can happen when the abuser themselves are being subjected to an unpleasant situation and they then are take their feelings out on somebody else. They may feel insecure about something and might feel confused and don’t know who to talk to, so they take it out on other people. The abuser may also be abused their selves at home or within work; they may have a low-self esteem and have a lot of built up anger.
Sexual Abuse
Sexual abuse, also referred to as molestation, is forcing undesired sexual behaviour by one person upon another. When that force is immediate, of short duration, or infrequent, it is called sexual assault.
* Acquaintance Rape: Acquaintance assault involves coercive sexual activities that occur against a person’s will by means of force, violence, duress, or fear of bodily injury. These sexual activities are imposed upon them by someone they know (a friend, date, acquaintance, etc.).
* Drug facilitated assault: when drugs or alcohol are used to compromise an individual’s ability to consent to sexual activity. In addition, drugs and alcohol are often used in order to minimize the resistance and memory of the victim of a sexual assault. Types and Signs of Abuse Research
* Incest: sexual contact between persons who are so closely related that their marriage is illegal (e.g. parents and children, uncles/aunts and nieces/nephews, etc.). Incest is considered by many experts to be a particularly damaging form of sexual abuse because it is perpetrated by individuals upon whom the victim trusts and depends. In addition, support can also be lacking and pressure to keep silent powerful as fear of the family breaking up can be overwhelming to other family members.
Signs & symptoms of sexual abuse:
* Insomnia or sleeping difficulties
* Eating disorders
* Chronic headaches
* Lower back and chest pains
* Unwanted pregnancy
* Anxiety, Low self-esteem and depression
* Torn clothing/ stained underwear
* Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
* Avoiding sexual intercourse
* Mistrusting people
* Vulnerable, shy and withdrawn
This type of abuse could happen if the abuser may have been abused in this way when he or she was younger and they see this as a way of dealing with their problems. The abuser could have a mental illness or have anger problems where a lot of internal anger built up and this is the way that they relieve it. The abuser may not feel very powerful within a relationship; this is their way of showing power to their victim/ partner.
Neglect
Neglect is defined as a failure to provide the base care needs, assistance, guidance and attention that an individual needs. It is a lack of care towards a person and can cause physical, mental or emotional harm or substantial damage to the person later on.
* Active neglect – the intentional withholding basic necessities of life. Types and Signs of Abuse Research
* Passive neglect – not providing basic necessities of life because of lack of experience, information, or ability.
* Self neglect – an individual doesn’t attend to their basic needs i.e. personal hygiene, appropriate clothing, feeding or medical conditions they may have.
Signs & symptoms of neglect:
* Confusion and disorientation
* Poor personal hygiene
* Constantly wearing dirty clothes
* Isolation and withdrawal
* Malnutrition due to lack of healthy and balanced diet
* Anger, embarrassment and fear
* Mental health problems
* Low self-esteem
* Anxiety and depression
* Poor grades in education
* Inappropriate or problematic behaviour
There are many things that can cause this type of abuse to an adult. They may not have enough financial income to support themselves and their family; this can lead to malnutrition and poor hygiene because they might not be able to afford water bills. Another thing that can cause this type of abuse is lack of support by the government and education provided to the individual. Sometimes neglect happens due to other problems such as mental health issues, drug and alcohol problems or poverty. If a carer, parent etc, becomes addicted to drugs or has a serious illness or medical condition then neglect can happen as a side effect. Types and Signs of Abuse Research
Exploitation
To take advantage and treat an individual unfairly for your own benefit from their work. Financial exploitation is a fast-growing form of abuse of seniors and adults with disabilities. Situations of financial exploitation commonly involve trusted persons in the life of the vulnerable adult, such as: Caretakers and family members. Taking advantage of individuals with a developmental disability can rob them of their independence and the ability to afford the basic necessities of life, such as food, rent payments and medicine.
* Exploitation for the purpose of prostitution of another person (sexual exploitation) and other forms of sexual exploitation
* Forced labour or services
* Slavery, servitude and other practices similar to slavery
* Removal of organs for the purpose of illegal transplants
* To gain materialistic items from a vulnerable person
Signs & symptoms of exploitation:
* Sudden decrease in bank account balances
* Unexplained disappearance of money or valuable possessions
* Sudden problem paying bills or buying food to provide for your family and yourself
* Substandard care being provided or bills which are late or unpaid despite the availability of adequate financial resources
* Concerns expressed by a person with a developmental disability that he or she is being exploited Types and Signs of Abuse Research
One thing that can cause this abuse is if the abuser is an alcoholic, they are spending all their money on alcohol and won’t be able to pay for food or bills. Another example is a care giver might go down to the shop for the elderly and steal their money for themselves and the elderly notice that their bank account is going down very quickly. http://photos.gograph.com/thumbs/CSP/CSP909/k9097066.jpg
Discriminatory Abuse
Discrimination is defined as a form of an equality act or prejudicial treatment to different categories of people. Discriminatory abuse is motivated by oppressive and prejudicial attitudes towards a person’s disability (including physical or sensory impairment, learning difficulty or mental ill-health), their age, race, gender, religion, cultural background, sexual orientation etc.
* Discrimination demonstrated on any grounds including sex, race, colour, language, culture, religion, politics or sexual orientation.
* Discrimination that is based on a person’s disability or age
* Harassment and slurs which are degrading
* Hate crime
Signs & symptoms of discriminatory abuse:
* Tendency to withdrawal and isolation
* Fearfulness and anxiety
* Being refused access to services or being excluded inappropriately
* Loss of self-esteem
* Resistance or refusal to access services that are required to meet need
* Expressions of anger or frustration
* Not being provided a service because they can’t handle an individual’s disability
Types and Signs of Abuse Research
* A lot of illness due to lack of medical care because of gender
* Isolate themselves and are conscious to go outside
* Criminal damage to their belongings
* Verbal abuse in public; shaming them because of what category they are in
* Hate email/ hate crimes being carried out on the individual
This type of abuse might be caused because an individual is a racist and they might have been brought up in a family that see racism as an acceptable act. The individual might have a mental disability and doesn’t understand the boundaries of discrimination. For example, an autistic child might say a comment that could be seen as discriminatory but they don’t understand why that is, this then is not their fault it is just the way they are and may have not been fully educated on discrimination. Other times people may have been brought up and taught to have a certain view on a certain group of people, this could be discriminatory, and this then becomes abuse if they act on their belief.Types and Signs of Abuse Research
