|
BCIFV
home > Issues > Elder
Abuse > Fact Sheet #3
FACT SHEET #3
B.C. COALITION TO ELIMINATE ABUSE OF SENIORS
FACT SHEET #3
PSYCHOLOGICAL
OR EMOTIONAL ABUSE
Emotional Abuse attacks a senior’s
feelings of self-worth or self-esteem. Use of verbal abuse
by taunts, threats, put-downs, withdrawal of love and affection,
or emotional support by the abuser, over a period of time,
affects how a senior feels and is extremely harmful to his/her
well-being.
SCENARIO #1
Paul is constantly belittling his wife Anna: “You’re
stupid, you’ve never been any use to me. Serve you right
if I left you. You’ll never manage without me. Maybe
I should look for a younger woman, or put you in a home!”
Anna has become depressed, feels ugly and unwanted, has trouble
eating and sleeping and sometimes has thoughts of suicide.
SCENARIO #2
Bill, a widower, has recently gone to live with his adult
daughter. Mary insists that her father remain in his room
most of the day. “I don’t want you under foot, you
get in my way.” Sometimes she ignores her father and
does not speak to him for several days. He feels both worthless
and useless and wishes he had not sold his house, giving the
money to his daughter and son-in-law in return for taking
care of him for the balance of his life. He is very worried
as he feels his only choices are: to find a place on his own,
or move to a care facility.
SCENARIO #3
June and David are emotionally upset. Their grandson, Eric,
has recently moved in with them as his wife has left him and
he has lost his job, due to his drinking problem. He has become
very abusive to his grandparents, often yelling at them, threatening
them and demanding money. Eric is a big man, and becomes very
aggressive when he drinks. His grandparents are too scared
to ask him to leave, and fear that he may become physically
abusive to them if they don’t give him the money he keeps
asking for.
SCENARIO #4
Harry, who has Alzheimers and is bedridden, lives with his
daughter and son-in-law who have hired a care-giver to come
in during the day to look after him. When they return in the
evening, he appears very agitated and does not want them to
come near him. Their neighbour comes to tell them that she
often hears the care-giver yelling at Harry and he often cries
out. They discover that she is very emotionally abusive to
him, threatening to strike him. They fire the care-giver and
very quickly Harry returns back to his usual self.
CONTINUUM
FOR PSYCHOLOGICAL OR EMOTIONAL ABUSE
- Jokes about habits/faults/age
disabilities
- Insults about the senior
- Overly familiar, e.g., use
of “dear” - not using name senior prefers
- Speaking to third party
(acting as if the senior was not there)
- Treating senior as a child
- Not looking at person with
hearing loss - treating this as a disability
- Ignoring the senior’s
feelings
- When placed in care facility
- often choice of food, clothing, bathroom habits are
removed
- Not keeping a promise
- Shouting - name calling
- Repeated/targeted insults
- Repeated humiliation - both
in private and in public
- Blaming senior for all faults
- Lying to senior
- Silence/shunning
- Threatening violence/retaliation/isolation
- Putting down senior’s
abilities, e.g. as a parent/grandparent
- Alienating children/grandchildren
towards senior
- Expecting senior to look
after grandchildren when beyond the senior’s physical
and other capabilities
- Adult children moving home/living
off senior(s)
- Repeated threats - to put
senior in a home/mental hospital
- Nervous breakdown/depression
- Threatened/attempted suicide
by abuser
- Attempted suicide
Adapted by Connie Chapman
from Shelter Children Research
and Services Project
FACT SHEET #3
B.C. COALITION TO ELIMINATE ABUSE OF SENIORS
FACT SHEET #3 333
- 6TH STREET - NEW WESTMINSTER, BC V3L 3A9
Telephone: (604) 521-1235
Fax: (604) 515-0201
FUNDED BY:
THE LEON AND THEA KOERNER FOUNDATION AND THE HAMBER FOUNDATION
Read
other fact sheets in this series:
This
page last updated October 25, 2000.
Copyright (c) 1996 BC
Institute Against Family Violence.
|
