There are several different forms of harm which can occur in a domestic setting or other environments. Perpetrators can be family members, friends, or anyone else the vulnerable adult has contact with. Abusive or harmful situations are not always visible and often not spoken about.
Examples of each category are as follows (note the descriptions are not an exhaustive list):
Physical – Includes hitting, slapping, pushing, kicking, misuse of medication, unlawful or inappropriate restraint, or inappropriate physical sanctions.
Sexual – Sexual assault, rape, or any sexual behaviour the adult at risk has not consented to, could not consent to, or was pressured into consenting to.
Emotional – Wide ranging behaviours including manipulation, name calling, invasion of privacy, criticising, humiliating, undermining or anything affecting the adult at risk’s self-esteem or confidence.
Psychological – Broadly similar to emotional abuse but includes distorting someone’s sense of reality, such as convincing someone their memory is wrong, or their concerns are invalid (gaslighting), questioning their understanding, or convincing them they are ‘crazy’.
Coercive control – Control of someone’s life through intimidation, humiliation, violence, or the threat of those things.
Neglect – Includes ignoring medical or physical care needs, failure to provide access to appropriate health, social care or educational services, the withholding of the necessities of life, such as medication, adequate nutrition, and heating.
Radicalisation – Grooming or exploitation of vulnerable adults to be recruited into extreme groups
Discriminatory – Includes abuse based on a person’s race, sex, gender, disability, faith, sexual orientation, or age; other forms of harassment, slurs or similar treatment or hate crime.
Financial – Theft, fraud, exploitation, pressure in connection with wills, property or inheritance or financial transactions. Controlling a victim’s ability to acquire, use, and maintain financial resources.
Modern Slavery – Human trafficking, forced labour and domestic servitude. Traffickers and slave masters use whatever means at their disposal to coerce, deceive, and force individuals into a life of abuse, servitude, and inhuman treatment.
Organisational – Neglect and poor practice within an institution or specific care setting such as a hospital or care home, for example, or in relation to care provided in one’s own home. This may range from one-off incidents to on-going ill-treatment. It can be through neglect or poor professional practice.
