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Definitions of Abuse TypesPhysical AbusePhysical abuse includes hitting, slapping, pushing, punching, withholding vital medicine, or refusing to help someone with a medical need. Actions such as throwing things through windows, breaking things, or threatening to shoot someone are a combination of physical and emotional abuse. Sexual AbuseSexual abuse is violence where sex is used as the weapon. Assaults are motivated by a need to feel powerful by controlling, dominating or humiliating the victim. Victims/survivors of sexual abuse are forced, coerced, and/or manipulated to participate in unwanted sexual activity. Verbal/Emotional AbuseThere is no universally accepted definition of emotional abuse. Like other forms of violence in relationships, emotional abuse is based on power and control. Emotional abuse may occur on its own, but no abuse can occur without psychological consequences, therefore all abuse contains elements of emotional abuse. Emotional abuse can severely damage a person's sense of self-worth and perception. In children, it can impair psychological development, including: intelligence, memory, recognition, perception, attention, imagination and moral development. The following are widely recognized as forms of emotional abuse:
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