May include intimidation, threats of physical harm to the victim or relatives, shouting, swearing, name calling, racist comments, deprived of normal activities or contact, humiliation, indifference, emotional blackmail and controlling behaviour. This also includes neglect, or the failure to provide care and support.

How does it affect people?

Emotional abuse is the ongoing emotional maltreatment or neglect of an adult or child. It can seriously damage a person’s emotional health and development.
Emotional abuse can involve deliberately trying to scare or humiliate another or isolating or ignoring them.
Emotional abuse may involve conveying to a person that they are worthless or unloved, inadequate or valued only if they meet the needs of another person – such as a spouse or parent. It may include not giving the person the opportunity to express their views, deliberately silencing them, or ‘making fun’ of what they say or what they do.

Includes sexual assault, unwanted sexual acts, rape, sexual acts with a person unable to give consent, subjecting someone to indecent exposure, teasing or innuendo.

How does it affect people?

Sexual abuse involves any sexual behaviour directed toward an adult without that adult’s consent. Sexual abuse can happen to people of all ages, including the elderly. Sexual abuse is a way that a person tries or manages to have intimate sexual control over another person and has nothing to do with consenting intimacy between adults.
A child is sexually abused when they are forced or persuaded to take part in sexual activities. This doesn't have to be physical contact, and as with adult sexual abuse, it can happen online. Sometimes the child will not understand that what is happening to them is abuse. They may not even understand that it is wrong and may actually think they enjoy it.
Sexual abuse can involve the abuser making physical, intimate contact with a person, including penetration.  Or it could be where the abuser doesn't touch the person, such as grooming, exploitation, or persuading someone to perform sexual acts over the internet.

May include hitting, punching, slapping, kicking, pinching or scratching.

How does it affect people?

Physical abuse involves someone hurting  another person. This could be hurting them with their hands, their feet, or an object. It includes hitting and smacking, slapping, punching, pinching, kicking, shaking or suffocating, scalding or burning, scratching or biting, hair pulling, spitting or throwing things, making someone swallow something that hurts or makes them feel ill, including giving medicine when it is not needed or withholding it when it is.
Anybody can be physically abusive, including a parent, sibling, other family members, a spouse, and other adults or young people. Bullying may often include physical abuse. Physical abuse is never the victim’s fault.

The misuse of power and abuse of trust by professionals e.g. therapists, health workers, teachers, Rabbis; the failure of professionals to act on suspected abuse/crimes, poor practice or neglect in services.

How does it affect people?

Domestic abuse is the use of power to control or intimidate a partner or family member.

How does it affect people?

Anyone forced to alter their behaviour because they are frightened of their partner’s reaction is being abused. The abuse can be physical, emotional, psychological, financial or sexual. It can begin at any stage of the relationship.  Incidents generally become more frequent and severe over time.
Domestic abuse can happen to anyone. It happens in all kinds of relationships, though statistics show the vast majority of domestic abuse and violence are carried out by men against women.

There is strong evidence of the link between abuse and mental illness.

How does it affect people?

Much the way that smoking can cause disease, early childhood abuse has been found to contribute to many types of mental illness.
Researchers have found specific changes in the brains of young adults who were abused or neglected in childhood leaving victims more vulnerable to depression, addiction and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).