Abuse (film)

Abuse is the improper usage or treatment of a thing, often to unfairly or improperly gain benefit. Abuse can come in many forms, such as: physical or verbal maltreatment, injury, assault, violation, rape, unjust practices, crimes, or other types of aggression. To these descriptions, one can also add the Kantian notion of the wrongness of using another human being as means to an end rather than as ends in themselves. Some sources describe abuse as "socially constructed", which means there may be more or less recognition of the suffering of a victim at different times and societies.

Types and contexts of abuse

Abuse of authority

Abuse of authority includes harassment, interference, pressure, and inappropriate requests or favors.

Abuse of corpse

:''See: Necrophilia''
Necrophilia involves possessing a physical attraction to dead bodies that may led to acting upon sexual urges. As corpses are dead and cannot give consent, any manipulation, removal of parts, mutilation, or sexual acts performed on a dead body is considered abuse.

Abuse of discretion

An abuse of discretion is a failure to take into proper consideration, the facts and laws relating to a particular matter; an arbitrary or unreasonable departure from precedent and settled judicial custom.

Abuse of dominance

Market dominance by companies is regulated by public and private enforcement of competition law, also known as antitrust or anti-monopoly law.

Abuse of indulgences

In the Catholic Church, an indulgence is a way to reduce punishment for sin, often by prayer, pilgrimage or good works. In the Middle Ages, some Church officials demanded money in exchange both for forgiveness of sins and for other rewards such as future salvation.

Abuse of information

Abuse of information typically involves a breach of confidence or plagiarism, or extending the confidence of information beyond those authorised.

In the financial world, Insider trading can also be considered a misuse of internal information that gives an unfair advantage in investment.

Abuse of power

Abuse of power, in the form of "malfeasance in office" or "official misconduct", is the commission of an unlawful act, done in an official capacity, which affects the performance of official duties. Malfeasance in office is often grounds for a for cause removal of an elected official by statute or recall election.

Abuse of process

A cause of action in tort arising from one party making a malicious and deliberate misuse or perversion of regularly issued court process (civil or criminal) not justified by the underlying legal action.

Abuse of rank

Rankism (also called abuse of rank) is treating people of a lower rank in an abusive, discriminatory, or exploitative way. Robert W. Fuller claims that rankism includes the abuse of the power inherent in superior rank, with the view that rank-based abuse underlies many other phenomena such as bullying, racism, sexism, and homophobia.

Abuse of statistics

:''See: Abuse of statistics''

Abuse of trust

:''See: Position of trust''

Abusive supervision

Abusive supervision is most commonly studied in the context of the workplace, although can arise in other areas such as in the household and at school. "Abusive supervision has been investigated as an antecedent to negative subordinate workplace outcome". "Workplace violence has combination of situational and personal factors". The study that was conducted looked at the link between abusive supervision and different workplace events.

Academic abuse

Academic abuse is a form of workplace bullying which takes place in institutions of higher education, such as colleges and universities. Academia is highly competitive and has a well defined hierarchy, with junior staff being particularly vulnerable.

Adolescent abuse

:''See: Anti-social behaviour, Juvenile delinquency, Parental abuse by adolescents, Parental abuse of adolescents''

Adult abuse

Adult abuse refers to the abuse of vulnerable adults.

Alcohol use disorder

Alcohol use disorder, as described in the DSM-IV, is a psychiatric diagnosis describing the recurring use of alcoholic beverages despite its negative consequences.National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
"Diagnostic Criteria for Alcohol Abuse and Dependence"
''Alcohol Alert,'' No. 30 PH 359, October 1995. Alcohol use disorder is sometimes referred to by the less specific term alcoholism. There are two types of people with alcohol use disorder: those who have anti-social and pleasure-seeking tendencies, and those who are anxiety-ridden- people who are able to go without drinking for long periods of time but are unable to control themselves once they start. Binge drinking is another form of alcohol use disorder. Frequent binge drinking or getting severely drunk more than twice is classed as alcohol misuse. According to research done through international surveys, the heaviest drinkers happen to be the United Kingdom's adolescent generation.

Animal abuse

Animal abuse is the infliction of suffering or harm upon animals, other than humans, for purposes other than self-defense. More narrowly, it can be harm for specific gain, such as killing animals for fur. Diverging viewpoints are held by jurisdictions throughout the world.

Anti-social behavior

Anti-social behavior is often seen as public behavior that lacks judgement and consideration for others and may damage them or their property. It may be intentional, as with vandalism or graffiti, or the result of negligence. Persistent anti-social behavior may be a manifestation of an antisocial personality disorder. The counterpart of anti-social behavior is pro-social behavior, namely any behavior intended to help or benefit another person, group or society.

Bullying

Bullying is repeated acts over time that involves a real or perceived imbalance of power with the more powerful individual or group attacking those who are less powerful. Bullying may consist of three basic types of abuse – verbal, physical and emotional. It typically involves subtle methods of coercion such as intimidation. Bullying can be defined in many different ways. Although the UK currently has no legal definition of bullying, some US states have laws against it. Bullying is usually done to coerce others by fear or threat.

Character assassination

Character assassination is an attempt to tarnish a person's reputation. It may involve exaggeration or manipulation of facts to present an untrue picture of the targeted person. It is a form of defamation and can be a form of an ad hominem (to the person) argument.

Child abuse

Child abuse is the physical or psychological/emotional mistreatment of children. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) define child maltreatment as any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or other caregiver that results in harm, potential for harm, or threat of harm to a child. Most child abuse occurs in a child's home, with a smaller amount occurring in the organisations, schools or communities the child interacts with. There are four major categories of child abuse: neglect, physical abuse, psychological/emotional abuse, and sexual abuse.

Child sexual abuse

Child sexual abuse is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent abuses a child for sexual stimulation.
* Different forms of this include: asking or pressuring a child to engage in sexual activities (regardless of the outcome), some types of indecent exposure of genitalia to a child, displaying pornography to a child, actual sexual contact against a child, viewing or engaging in physical contact with the child's genitals for sexual purposes, or using a child to produce child pornography.

=Child-on-child sexual abuse

=

Child-on-child sexual abuse refers to a form of child sexual abuse in which a prepubescent child is sexually abused by one or more other children or adolescent youths, and in which no adult is directly involved. This includes sexual activity between children that occurs without consent, without equality, or as a result of coercion; particularly when physical force, threats, trickery, or emotional manipulation are used to elicit co-operation.

Civil rights abuse

Clandestine abuse

Clandestine abuse is sexual, psychological, or physical abuse "that is kept secret for a purpose, concealed, or underhanded."

Clerical abuse

:''See: Catholic sex abuse cases''

Cyber abuse or cyber bullying

Cyberbullying "involves the use of information and communication technologies to support deliberate, repeated, and hostile behavior by an individual or group, that is intended to harm others." -Bill Belsey

Dating abuse or dating violence

Dating abuse is a pattern of abusive behaviour exhibited by one or both partners in a dating relationship. The behaviour may include, but is not limited to; physical abuse; psychological abuse; and sexual abuse.

Defamation

Defamation is the communication of a statement that makes a claim, expressly stated or implied to be factual, that may give an individual, business, product, group, government or nation a negative image. It is usually—but not always,e.g., in the case the offense of defamatory libel under the common law of England and Wales, where prior to the enactment of section 6 of the Libel Act 1843 ( defense of justification for the public benefit), the truth of the defamatory statement was irrelevant, and it continues to be sufficient that it is published to the defamed person alone. a requirement that this claim be false and that the publication be communicated to someone other than the person defamed (termed the claimant).

Disability abuse

It has been noted that disabled people are disproportionately affected by disability abuse and bullying, and such activity has been cited as a hate crime. The bullying is not limited to those who are visibly disabled – such as wheelchair-users or individuals with physical differences (e.g., cleft lip) – but also those with learning disabilities , autism or developmental coordination disorder. In the latter case, this is linked to a poor ability in physical education, and this behaviour can be encouraged by an ignorant physical education teacher. Abuse of disabled people is not limited to schools; there are many known cases in which disabled people have been abused by staff of a "care institution", such as the case revealed in a BBC Panorama programme on a Castlebeck care home ( Winterbourne View) near Bristol, leading to its closure and suspension or firing of staff members. Consequences of the BBC undercover report

Discriminatory abuse

Discriminatory abuse involves picking on or treating someone unfairly because something about them is different; for example concerning:

Discriminatory laws such as redlining have existed in many countries. In some countries, controversial attempts such as racial quotas have been used to redress negative effects of discrimination.

Other acts of discrimination include political libel, defamation of groups and stereotypes based on exaggerations.

Domestic abuse or domestic violence

Domestic abuse can be broadly defined as any form of abusive behaviours by one or both partners in an intimate relationship, such as marriage, cohabitation, family, dating, or even friends.
Domestic violence has many forms, including:
* physical aggression (hitting, kicking, biting, shoving, restraining, throwing objects), or threats thereof
* sexual abuse
* emotional abuse
* financial abuse (withholding money or controlling all money, including that of other family members)
* social abuse (restricting access to friends and/or family, insulting or threatening friends and/or family), controlling or domineering
* intimidation
* stalking
* passive/covert abuse (e.g., neglect)
* economic deprivation
Depending on local statues, the domestic violence may or may not constitute a crime, also depending on the severity and duration of specific acts, and other variables. Alcohol consumption and mental illness have frequently been associated with abuse.

Economic abuse

Economic abuse is a form of abuse when one intimate partner has control over the other partner's access to economic resources, which diminishes the victim's capacity to support him/herself and forces him/her to depend on the perpetrator financially.

Elder abuse

Elder abuse is a type of harm to older adults involving abuse by trusted individuals in a manner that "causes harm or distress to an older person". This definition has been adopted by the World Health Organization from a definition put forward by Action on Elder Abuse in the UK. The abuse includes violence, neglect, and other crimes committed against an elderly person and their forms include physical, mental, and financial abuses as well as passive and active neglect.

Emotional abuse

:''See: Psychological abuse''

While there is an absence of consensus as to the precise definition of emotional abuse, it is classified by the U.S. federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act as a form of mental injury. The typical legal definition, particularly in the area of child welfare, accepted by the majority of U.S. states describes it as injury to the psychological capacity or emotional stability as evidenced by an observable or substantial change in behavior, emotional response or cognition.

Employee abuse

:''See: Workplace abuse or workplace bullying''

False accusations

False accusations (or false allegations) can be in any of the following contexts:
* informally in everyday life;
* quasi-judicially;
* judicially.

Flag abuse

Flag abuse (or flag desecration) is a term applied to various acts that intentionally destroy, damage or mutilate a flag in public, most often a national flag. Often, such action is intended to make a political point against a country or its policies. Some countries have laws forbidding methods of destruction (such as burning in public) or forbidding particular uses (such as for commercial purposes); such laws may distinguish between desecration of the country's own national flag and flags of other countries. Countries may have laws protecting the right to burn a flag as free speech.

Gaming the system

Gaming the system (also called bending the rules, gaming the rules, playing the system, abusing the system, milking the system, or working the system) can be defined as using the rules and procedures meant to protect a system to instead manipulate the system for a desired outcome.

Gaslighting

Gaslighting is manipulation through persistent denial, misdirection, contradiction, and lying in an attempt to destabilize and delegitimize a target. Its intent is to sow seeds of doubt in the targets, hoping to make them question their own memory, perception, and sanity. Instances may range from the denial by an abuser that previous abusive incidents ever occurred up to the staging of bizarre events by the abuser with the intention of disorienting the victim. The term owes its origin to '' Gaslight'', a 1938 play and 1944 film, and has been used in clinical and research literature.

Gay abuse or gay bashing

Gay bashing and gay bullying are verbal or physical abuse against a person perceived by the aggressor to be gay, lesbian, or bisexual, including people who are actually heterosexual, or of non-specific or unknown sexual orientation.

Harassment

Harassment covers a wide range of offensive behaviour. It is commonly understood as behaviour intended to disturb or upset. In the legal sense, it is behaviour which ''is found'' threatening or disturbing.

Power harassment is harassment or unwelcome attention of a political nature, often occurring in the environment of a workplace.

Sexual harassment refers to persistent and unwanted sexual advances, typically in the workplace, where the consequences of refusing sexual requests are potentially very disadvantageous to the victim.

Hate crimes

Hate crimes occur when a perpetrator targets a victim because of his or her perceived membership in a certain social group; usually defined by racial group, religion, sexual orientation, disability, ethnicity, nationality, age, gender, gender identity, or political affiliation.

"Hate crime" generally refers to criminal acts which are seen to have been motivated by hatred of one or more of the listed conditions. Incidents may involve physical assault, damage to property, bullying, harassment, verbal abuse or insults, or offensive graffiti or inflammatory letters (hate mail).

Hazing

Hazing is considered any activity involving harassment, abuse, or humiliation as a way of initiating a person into a group.

Hazing is seen in many different types of groups; including within gangs, clubs, sports teams, military units, and workplaces. In the United States and Canada, hazing is often associated with Greek-letter organisations ( fraternities and sororities). Hazing is often prohibited by law and may be either physical (possibly violent) or mental (possibly degrading) practices. It may also include nudity or sexually oriented activities.

Human rights abuse

Human rights are "basic rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled." Examples of rights and freedoms which have come to be commonly thought of as human rights include civil and political rights, such as the right to life and liberty, freedom of expression, and equality before the law; and economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to participate in culture, the right to be treated with respect and dignity, the right to food, the right to work, and—in certain countries—the right to education.

Humiliation

Humiliation is the abasement of pride, which creates mortification or leads to a state of being humbled or reduced to lowliness or submission. It can be brought about through bullying, intimidation, physical or mental mistreatment or trickery, or by embarrassment if a person is revealed to have committed a socially or legally unacceptable act.

Incivility

Incivility is a general term for social behaviour lacking in civility or good manners, ranging from rudeness or lack of respect towards elders; vandalism and hooliganism; or public drunkenness and threatening behaviour.

Institutional abuse

Institutional abuse can typically occur in a care home, nursing home, acute hospital or in-patient setting and can be any of the following:

Further reading
* Barter, Christine (1998). ''Investigating Institutional Abuse of Children (Policy, Practice, Research).'' National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC).
* Beker, Jerome (1982). ''Institutional Abuse of Children and Youth (Child & Youth Services)''. Routledge.
* Manthorpe J, Penhale B, Stanley N (1999). ''Institutional Abuse: Perspectives Across the Life Course.'' Routledge.
* Westcott, Helen L (1991). ''Institutional Abuse of Children – From Research to Policy: A Review (Policy, Practice, Research S.) ''National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC).

Insult

An insult is an expression, statement or behaviour considered to be degrading and offensive.

Intimidation

Intimidation involves intentional behavior that would cause a person of reasonable apprehension to fear harm or injury. Within the context of a criminal prosecution it is not necessary to prove that the behavior caused the victim to experience terror or panic. "The calculated use of violence or the threat of violence to attain goals political, religious, or ideological in nature... through intimidation, coercion, or instilling fear" can be defined as terrorism.

Legal abuse

Legal abuse refers to abuses associated with both civil and criminal legal action.

Market abuse

Market abuse may arise in circumstances where financial investors have been unreasonably disadvantaged, directly or indirectly, by others who:
* have used information which is not publicly available (insider dealing)
* have distorted the price-setting mechanism of financial instruments
* have disseminated false or misleading information.

Medical abuse

Military abuse

''War crimes'' are "violations of the laws or customs of war", including "murder, the ill-treatment or deportation of civilian residents of an occupied territory to slave labor camps", "the murder or ill-treatment of prisoners of war", the killing of hostages, "the wanton destruction of cities, towns and villages, and any devastation not justified by military, or civilian necessity". (see also: '' The Black Book of Communism'')

''War rape'' is rape committed by soldiers, other combatants or civilians during armed conflict or war. During war and armed conflict rape is frequently used as means of psychological warfare to humiliate the enemy and undermine their morale.

''Military sexual trauma'' is sexual assault and rape experienced by military personnel. It is often accompanied by posttraumatic stress disorder.

Mind abuse or mind control

Mind abuse or mind control refers to a process in which a group or individual "systematically uses unethically manipulative methods to persuade others to conform to the wishes of the manipulator(s), often to the detriment of the person being manipulated". The term has been applied to any tactic, psychological or otherwise, which can be seen as subverting an individual's sense of control over their own thinking, behaviour, emotions or decision making.

Misconduct

Misconduct means a wrongful, improper, or unlawful conduct motivated by premeditated or intentional purpose or by obstinate indifference to the consequences of one's acts. Three categories of misconduct are ''official misconduct'', ''professional misconduct ''and ''sexual misconduct''.

Mobbing

Mobbing means bullying of an individual by a group in any context. Identified as emotional abuse in the workplace (such as "ganging up" on someone by co-workers, subordinates or superiors) to force someone out of the workplace through rumour, innuendo, intimidation, humiliation, discrediting, and isolation, it is also referred to as malicious, nonsexual, nonracial, general harassment.

Mobbing can take place in any group environment such as a workplace, neighbourhood or family.

Narcissistic abuse

Narcissistic abuse is a term that emerged in the late 20th century, and became more prominent in the 2000s decade. It originally referred specifically to abuse by narcissistic parents of their children, but more recently has come to mean any abuse by a narcissist (egotistical person or someone with arrogant pride).

Neglect

Neglect is a passive form of abuse in which a caregiver responsible for providing care for a victim (a child, a physically or mentally disabled adult, an animal, a plant, or an inanimate object) fails to provide adequate care for the victim's needs, to the detriment of the victim. It is typically seen as a form of laziness or apathy on the form of the caregiver, rather than ignorance due to inability; accordingly, neglect of a child by and adult with mental disorders or who is overworked is not considered abuse, although this may constitute child neglect nonetheless.

Examples of neglect include failing to provide sufficient supervision, nourishment, medical care or other needs for which the victim is helpless to provide for themselves.

Negligence

Negligence is conduct that is culpable (to blame) because it falls short of what a reasonable person would do to protect another individual from foreseeable risks of harm.

Parental abuse by children

Abuse of parents by their children is a common but under-reported and under-researched subject. Parents are quite often subject to levels of childhood aggression, typically in the form of verbal or physical abuse, in excess of normal childhood aggressive outbursts. Parents feel a sense of shame and humiliation to have that problem, so they rarely seek help; nor is much help available today.

Passive–aggressive behaviour

Passive–aggressive behaviour is a form of covert abuse. It is passive, sometimes obstructionist resistance to following through with expectations in interpersonal or occupational situations.
It can manifest itself as learned helplessness, procrastination, stubbornness, resentment, sullenness, or deliberate and repeated failures in accomplishing tasks for which one is (often explicitly) expected to do.

Patient abuse

Patient abuse or neglect is any action or failure to act which causes unreasonable suffering, misery or harm to the patient. It includes physically striking or sexually assaulting a patient. It also includes withholding of necessary food, physical care, and medical attention. It applies to various contexts such as hospitals, nursing homes, clinics and home visits.

Peer abuse

"Peer abuse" is an expression popularised by author Elizabeth Bennett in 2006 to reinforce the idea that it is as valid to identify bullying as a form of abuse just as one would identify any other form of abuse. The term conveys similar connotations to the term ''peer victimisation''.

Persecution

Persecution is the systematic mistreatment of an individual or group by another group. The most common forms are religious persecution, ethnic persecution, and political persecution; though there is naturally some overlap between these terms.

Physical abuse

Physical abuse is abuse involving contact intended to cause feelings of intimidation, pain, injury, or other physical suffering or bodily harm.

Torture

Torture is any act by which severe pain, whether physical or psychological, is intentionally inflicted.

Police abuse

''Police brutality'' is the intentional use of excessive force by a police officer. Though usually physical it has the potential to arise in the form of verbal attacks or psychological intimidation. It is in some instances triggered by " contempt of cop", i.e., perceived disrespect towards police officers.

''Police corruption'' is a specific form of police misconduct designed to obtain financial benefits and/or career advancement for a police officer or officers in exchange for not pursuing, or selectively pursuing, an investigation or arrest.

''Police misconduct'' refers to inappropriate actions taken by police officers in connection with their official duties. Police misconduct can lead to a miscarriage of justice and sometimes involves discrimination.

Political abuse

Prejudice

A prejudice is a preconceived belief, opinion, or judgment toward a group of people or a single person because of race, social class, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, disability, political beliefs, religion, line of work or other personal characteristics. It also means a priori beliefs (without knowledge of the facts) and includes "any unreasonable attitude that is unusually resistant to rational influence." Although positive and negative prejudice both exist, when used negatively, "prejudice" implies fear and antipathy toward such a group or person.

Prison abuse or prisoner abuse

Prisoner abuse is the mistreatment of persons while they are under arrest or incarcerated.
Abuse falling into this category includes:
* Physical abuse: hitting, beating, or other unauthorised corporal punishment.
* Psychological abuse: taunting, sleep deprivation, or other forms of psychological abuse, occasionally white noise
* Sexual abuse: forced intercourse, genital mutilation, or other forms of sexual abuse.
* Other abuse: refusal of essential medication, humiliation, etc.
* Enhanced interrogation: methods implemented in the War on Terror purportedly needed to extract information since other techniques would not yield results.
* Torture: any act by which severe pain, whether physical or psychological, is intentionally inflicted

Professional abuse

Professional abusers:
* take advantage of their client or patient's trust
* exploit their vulnerability
* do not act in their best interests
* fail to keep professional boundaries

Abuse may be:
* discriminatory
* financial
* physical/ neglectful
* psychological/emotional
* sexual

Professional abuse always involves:
* betrayal of trust
* exploitation of vulnerability
* violation of professional boundaries

Further reading
* Dorpat, Theodore L (1996). ''Gaslighting, the Double Whammy, Interrogation and Other Methods of Covert Control in Psychotherapy and Analysis. ''Jason Aronson, Incorporated.
* Penfold, P. Susan (1998). ''Sexual Abuse by Health Professionals: A Personal Search for Meaning and Healing.'' University of Toronto Press.

Psychological abuse

Psychological abuse, also referred to as emotional abuse or mental abuse, is a form of abuse characterized by a person subjecting or exposing another to behavior that is psychologically harmful. Such abuse is often associated with situations of power imbalance, such as abusive relationships, bullying, child abuse and in the workplace.

Racial abuse

Racism is abusive attitudes or treatment of others based on the belief that race is a primary determinant of human traits and capacities. It is a form of pride that one's own race is superior and, as a result, has a right to "rule or dominate others", according to a '' Macquarie Dictionary'' definition. Racism is correlated with and can foster race-based prejudice, violence, dislike

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