Abuse occurs in many ways, can happen at anytime regardless of gender, age, or place in life. Abuse also occurs in different areas of life. Here are a few different forms of abuse that we treat at Counseling Alliance.
Sexual Abuse
Sexual abuse unfortunately occurs in childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and even in one's senior adult years. Sexual abuse is essentially any sexual contact or experience that is unwanted and can range from teasing or touching to assault. It can be a one time event (e.g., rape), or it can be ongoing. The impact of sexual abuse can be very debilitating and if left untreated those effects can last a lifetime.
Physical Abuse
Physical abuse can also happen across the lifespan. Pushing, shoving, slapping, or abusive actions that are more violent impacts those abused in many ways. A lack of trust, a loss of feeling safe, the inability to establish secure relationships, even questions about where was God when this was happening are not uncommon.
Emotional/Verbal Abuse
Emotional/verbal abuse is often the result of one person controlling, belittling, shame, or otherwise demeaning a more vulnerable person. Those abused often internalize negative beliefs about the abuser, themselves, or even life in general. Feelings of disconnectedness, lack of a safety, fear, or unhealthy ways of coping with difficult memories and or emotions through food, substances, or other distracting behaviors are not uncommon.
Spiritual Abuse
Spiritual abuse doesn't get as much attention as the other areas noted above. This does not mean it is more rare, or less impactful. Spiritual abuse can include such things as demanding another person believes the same way as the person making the demands, unrealistic expectations, excessive or inappropriate disciplines for failing to meet a particular standard, or, using Scripture or one’s faith system to coerce certain behavior from another person. This could be a minister, a spouse, a parent, or other significant person in an individual’s life. Just a couple of the consequences of spiritual abuse include: feeling as though you never quite measure up, or an inability to live out your faith in the manner you believe is appropriate. In essence, the religiously abusive individual denies others of their own reality with regard to what is right, true, and appropriate.
