Emotional / Mental Abuse: 

"According to  The Hotline’s 2020 Data, 95% of contacts stated they were experiencing emotional abuse. Emotional abuse can be quite difficult to detect when it is being experienced. [...]  emotional abuse is also a foundation for other forms of abuse. Often, it is used erode a person’s self-esteem and self-worth and create a psychological dependency on the abusive partner. 

Emotional abuse includes non-physical behaviors that are meant to control, isolate, or frighten you. This may present in romantic relationships as threats, insults, constant monitoring, excessive jealousy, manipulation, humiliation, intimidation, dismissiveness, among others." - The Hotline

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Financial Abuse: 

"Financial abuse is a broad term that can apply to a lot of different problems that victims experience. But at its core, it involves an abuser either stealing money from someone, denying money from someone or using money to exert control and power over them.

Types of Financial Abuse

• Stealing money from someone

• Taking financial control away from someone

• Placing a spouse or partner on an “allowance” and controlling their access to money

• Recklessly spending someone else’s money

• Tricking a senior into giving their money away in a scam

• Taking advantage of an elderly family member to use their money

[...] Financial abuse occurs in 98% of abusive relationships [...]." - Annuity

For information on financial wellness, see here.

 

Neglect:

"Federal legislation provides guidance to states by identifying a minimum set of acts or behaviors that define child abuse and neglect. The Federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) - PDF (42 U.S.C.A. § 5106g), as amended by the CAPTA Reauthorization Act of 2010, defines child abuse and neglect as, at minimum:

• "Any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker which results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse or exploitation"; or:

• "An act or failure to act which presents an imminent risk of serious harm."

This definition of child abuse and neglect refers to parents and other caregivers. A "child" under this definition means a person who is younger than age 18 or who is not an emancipated minor.

Your state or territory may also define child abuse and neglect in their laws.

For more information on child abuse and neglect, visit childwelfare.gov." - US Dept of Health and Human Services

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Physical Abuse:

Intentional bodily injury of a child / dependent. - DSHS

"[...] Physical abuse can be committed by any person, even a person who has no responsibility for the child. [...] Physical abuse includes only non-accidental injuries." - Wisconsin Child Welfare

Types of abuse: Hitting with hands/objects  |  Slapping  |  Punching  |  Kicking  |  Shaking  |  Throwing  |  Poisoning  |  Burning  |  Biting  |  Scratching  |  Breaking bones  |  Drowning. - National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children

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Sexual Abuse:​

"Sexual assault can take many different forms and be defined in different ways, but one thing remains the same: it’s never the victim’s fault." - RAINN

"Sexual assault involves unwanted sexual activity, with perpetrators often using force, making threats, or taking advantage of victims not being able to give consent. Immediate reactions to sexual assault may include shock, fear, or disbelief. Long-term symptoms may include anxiety, fear, or posttraumatic stress disorder."  - American Psychological Association

Click here for information on consent.

Click here for statistics of sexual assault.

Click here for safety advice for parents regarding sexual assault.

Click here for information on safety for students regarding sexual assault.

Click here for advice for bystanders to prevent sexual assault.

Click here to see laws in YOUR state regarding sexual assault / abuse.

Click here for RAINN consulting services and education.

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Verbal Abuse:

"Verbal abuse is a pattern of speaking with the intent to demean, humiliate, blame or threaten the victim. Though an abuser may raise their voice in mean and threatening ways, verbal abuse does not always include shouting. It can simply be defined by the manner in which the abuser is speaking—typically a demeaning, demoralizing way. 

Verbal and emotional abuse may be used interchangeably to describe what’s happening, and that’s OK. Labeling the abuse is not as important as recognizing that what’s occurring is, in fact, abusive behavior." - Domestic Shelters

Forms of verbal abuse (copied from Domestic Shelters):

Hostile withholding. Abusers may refuse to acknowledge a survivor’s existence for hours, days, sometimes longer, which can lead to a survivor feeling isolated and desperate for the abuser’s approval and acknowledgement.  

1. Countering. When the abuser tries to convince the survivor their feelings about anything and everything are wrong, no matter how insignificant.  

2. Discounting. Telling a survivor that their emotions are wrong, denying them the right to simply feel what they feel (e.g., “You always make too big a deal out of these things.”).

3. Jokes. An abuser will try to use the “It was just a joke!” to discount their insults. 

4. Blocking. The abuser will prevent the survivor from talking at all, cutting the survivor off or accusing them of talking out of turn. 

5. Blame. The abuser will blame the survivor as a degradation or humiliation tactic, such as telling the survivor they’re not able to make friends because they’re a bad person or bad things happen to them because that’s what they deserve. 

6. Judging and Criticizing. Similar to blame, the abuser will judge the survivor unfairly for just about everything, using definitive “you” statements like, “You know you’re never going to be successful.” 

7. Trivializing. An abuser will minimize a survivor’s accomplishments—“It wasn’t that good of a dinner.”

8. Undermining. An abuser will make sure to question a survivor at every turn—“Are you sure you’re right? I doubt you are.”

9. Threats. An abuser will use threats to control or trap a survivor out of fear. “If you even think about leaving, you’re going to regret it.”

10. Name-Calling. This can be blatant, such as calling a survivor a b*tch or a sl*t, or more subtle, like, “You’re so dumb when it comes to money.”

11. Forgetting. Another way to remind a survivor that the abuser does not value him or her, either by intentionally or unintentionally forgetting things the survivor said or commitments the abuser needed to uphold. 

12. Ordering. This may also fall under the umbrella of coercive control where an abuser orders around their partner in a demeaning way. 

13. Denial. An abuser will seldom if ever claim ownership of any of their abusive choices, denying they are at fault. 

14. Abusive Anger. Yelling, plain and simple. No one deserves to be yelled at. 

Verbal Abuse Often Includes Gaslighting.

Gaslighting will leave a survivor doubting everything they know, which is exactly what abusers count on. Abusers will use phrases like, “That didn’t happen,” or “You’re blowing this out of proportion” which results in the survivor questioning their memories and, ultimately, blaming themselves.