The Types of Family Violence
Speaking about the types of family violence, the older adults are not so always the victims of such types of violence as, for example, the children (Gosselin, 2014, p. 207). However, still, there are cases of signs of emotional or psychological abuse displayed by older abused adults. Therefore, it is possible to differentiate three types of such violence – family or domestic elder abuse, institutional elder abuse, and self-neglect or self-abuse, each of which can be displayed in the forms of such signs as stress, poor mental condition, and the state of fear.
To start with, it is crucial to understand that both three types of adult violence have the similar signs of emotional or psychological abuse. As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2016) informs, “elder abuse is an intentional act or failure to act that causes or creates a risk of harm to an older adult” (p. 1) As a general rule, each elder abused adult feels serious stress that can be explained by the age-related issues. The people who are over 50 years old are more likely to be influenced by the mistreatment from the side of, for instance, their intimate partners. The poor mental condition is the other sign of possible abuse. It is much easier for the perpetrator to mentally harm this group of people than the youth or middle-age people. Finally, if the elder person acts strangely and looks like he/she fears something (for example, the person becomes more silent than ever), then there are the prerequisites to suppose that he/she is the victim of the abuse.
To sum up, such signs as stress, poor mental condition, and the state of fear may be the evidence of the existing abuse inside the family, in the institutional facility or even self-neglect. Therefore, it is vital to be able to notice such signs in order to prevent the cases of elder abuse.
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2016). Understanding elder abuse [Fact sheet]. CDC. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/em-factsheet-a.pdf
Gosselin, D. K. (2014). Heavy hands: An introduction to the crimes of family violence (Fifth edition). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education …
