The broad categories of abuse are sexual abuse, emotional abuse, physical abuse and neglect. All four forms of abuse can and do happen to children, teens, adults and elders.

Sexual abuse includes any kind of sexual act or innuendo that is unwanted by the recipient and makes them uncomfortable. Childhood sexual abuse, rape (including date and spousal rape), and sexual harassment fall into this category.

Emotional abuse includes any kind of behavior that has the attempts to devalue, tear down and/or control another human being. Examples of emotional abuse are ridicule, intimidation, sarcasm, threats, explosive anger, withholding of affection and/or material items, neglect, possessiveness, isolating the person from others, etc. One of the difficult things about emotional abuse is that it’s often difficult to recognize. The abuser generally staunchly denies that his or her behavior is abusive, and the person being abused often buys the abuser’s line.

Physical abuse includes any form of physical harm or violence that one person inflicts on another. This includes pushing, shoving and any other kind of physical contact that’s unwelcome and potentially threating.

Neglect most often involves dependent persons such as children or elders and refers to caretakers who meet the dependent person’s physical and/or emotional needs sporadically or not at all.