Intro

There is not a general definition of emotional abuse. Like other forms of violence in relationships, emotional abuse is based on power and control. The following are common forms of emotional abuse:

Rejecting - refusing to acknowledge a person’s presence, value or worth; devaluing her/his thoughts and feelings. Example: repeatedly treating a child differently from siblings in a way of anger, rejection or dislike for the child.

Degrading – insulting, name calling, imitating and talking to others in a way that is not supposed to be talked and behavior which lowers their identity,. Examples: yelling, swearing, publicly humiliating a person; mimicking a person’s disability; treating a older person as if she or he cannot make decisions.

Terrorizing – inducing terror or extreme fear in a person; doing things by force by intimidation; placing or threatening to place a person in an weak or dangerous environment. Examples: forcing a child to watch violent acts toward other family members or pets; threatening to leave, physically hurt or kill a person, pets or people she/he cares about; threatening to destroy a person’s possessions; threatening to have a person sent away or put in an institution; stalking.

Isolating - physical captivity; restricting normal contact with others; limiting freedom within a person’s own environment. Examples: excluding a senior from participating in decisions about her or his own life; locking a child in a closet or room alone; refusing a female partner or an elder to access to her or his own money and financial affairs; withholding contact with grandchildren.

Corrupting/Exploiting - socializing a person into accepting ideas or behavior, which oppose legal standards; using a person for advantage or profit; training a child to serve the interests of the abuser and not of the child. Examples: child sexual abuse; demanding a child to use alcohol or drugs; tempting a person into the sex trade.

Denying Emotional Responsiveness – failing to provide care in a sensitive and responsive manner; being detached and uninvolved; interacting only when necessary; ignoring a person’s mental health needs. Examples: ignoring a child’s attempt to interact; failing to show affection, caring and/or love for a child; treating a senior who lives in an institution as though she/he is an object or “a job to be done.”