Types Of Abuse And Their Effects On Life

Unit 11 – Task 1

P1: Physical

Physical abuse is a type of abuse when someone is being physically harmed by another/group of person/people. It is an aggressive behaviour that results in another person having physical injuries. It could be that they don’t even use their own fists to hit someone; they may use another object to throw or hit someone with. It could be kicking or punching, restrained to a chair, being locked in a room, grabbing, and pushing, slapping, pulling hair, biting, punching and kicking.

Sexual:

Sexual abuse is the type of abuse when someone is forced into doing sexual acts without their consent to cause pain or humiliation. It can include horrible name calling, refusal to use contraception, causing unwanted physical pain during sex on purpose, deliberately passing on sexual diseases or infections and using objects against their will.

Psychological (emotional):

This is the type of abuse in which people verbally abuse someone.

When someone is psychologically abusing another person, they could use insults, threats, rejection, neglect, blame, and manipulation, control, being ignorant, punishment or isolation. Well, it can be more than verbal insults, it can also be; , witnessing or experiencing sexual and/or physical abuse and witnessing or experiencing any other type of abuse. This abuse can happen at home, work, school or in relationships. Financial: Financially abusing someone could be taking advantage of them for their money.

It could be that someone trusts someone else to get their money out of the cash machine for them and they take out more money than they were supposed to and keep some for themselves, they take money out of someone else’s home whilst they are meant to be looking after them, someone borrowing someone else’s money and never paying them back, stealing someone else’s belongings from their home or private bag, someone taking someone else’s benefit or pension if they are an older person and someone asking for money when they are visiting you socially or for visiting you socially.

Neglect:

This is the type of abuse where carers are fulfilling someone’s basic needs; this may not be intentional but can be dangerous to any person who is experiencing it. There are three types of neglect; Mild; This is when it’s usually not reported to social services as it may not be intentional and the carer doesn’t know that they are neglecting and could turn things around. Moderate; This is where moderate harm is happening to the person, it could be that they have not been appropriately dressed for the weather by their carer e. g.

Shorts and sandals in winter conditions. This can be reported to social services and they usually sort out community groups to help them be appropriate for caring. Severe; This is where long-term harm has been done to an individual by the carer e. g. a child with a medical condition and the carer has not been giving them medication to help them get better so it has gradually gotten worse. This is the situation when authorities or the manager of the company should keep the carer employed or would have to make a choice of whether the individual should stay in that care or not.

Discriminatory:

This is the type of abuse when people treats other people different because of, for example, their weight, their race, skin colour, their sexuality, their age, religion, culture, choice in clothes or because of their gender.

Domestic violence:

This is the type of abuse when an incident of threatening behaviour, violence or abuse (psychological, physical, sexual, financial or emotional) between adults who are or have been intimate partners or family members, regardless of gender or sexuality.

This sort of abuse if rarely a one off, it usually has a pattern if it is happening in the home environment.

Institutional:

This abuse is the type of abuse that happens in a care, nursing or residential home. It can include; neglect, physical abuse, sexual abuse, verbal abuse, discriminatory abuse, psychological and emotional abuse or financial abuse.

Self-harm:

This is the type of abuse where someone causes deliberate pain to themselves with intentions that they definitely will harmed whatever they decide to do. It can be self-harming (cutting themselves), jumping from a height or playing with fire.

It could be having an intake of substances that will cause harm to internal organs or having an intake of a recreational drug to cause harm to themselves. It could also be that they are neglecting themselves too. For example, not taking showers, not eating, not drinking, not dressing for the appropriate weather.

P2

If you approached a person and they would flinch if you lifted you hand near them, this would usually lead you to believe that they are being physically abused, as it shows that they are really nervous around physical contact between people and their expectation is that you’re going to hurt them like other people have.

Also, if you found bruising to the upper arm, bruising around the mouth and burns on their body, this would also lead you to believe that they are being physically abused by someone as they are mystery bruises that usually wouldn’t appear there unless they have been grabbed, hit or burnt with something by someone. If they did it themselves by accident, they would usually be able to explain that but sometimes people can’t which would make you believe even more that they are being physically abused by someone Malnourishment, dehydration, unclean/poor hygiene and weight loss would lead you to believe that someone is being neglected.

This is because if they are not being treated properly, not being fed or given enough water, it can lead them to be like this. Other people will soon realise that the individual is being neglected before the person doing it and the victim does. Reluctance to be touched, embarrassment and low self-esteem would lead you to believe that someone is being sexually abused. This is because they may have been humiliated or been made to do humiliating things by someone who would cause them to be less happy with themselves and be embarrassed easier in the future.

Being sexually abused by someone else can make that individual be weary of other people touching them in a sexual way or if it has really affected them, they may not like being touched by someone at all.

P3

If an adult has additional needs and are dependent on other, it can frustrate their carer as they are not able to learn or get on things as fast as others. If the carer gets too frustrated with the individual without taking any breaks then that could lead them to get frustrated too.

The carer could then turn around and hit the individual or verbally abuse them as they see it as the only way they are able to get their frustration out at this point. When people are in the doctors, GP surgeries, dental surgeries and hospitals, they can get a bit agitated because they might have to wait a bit longer because there are loads of people there that have made appointments and might take it out on the staff or other patients. This could lead to physical or verbal abuse towards other people.