Sabkush Lifestyle News: Are you a victim of abuse?.

Sabkush Lifestyle News: Are you a victim of abuse?.Are you a victim of abuse?

Abuse comes in many forms. Rachel Fernandes gets the experts to explain the different types. The rising number of abuse cases being reported on almost a daily basis has had a disturbing effect on many people. Abuse, in any of its forms, is a harsh reality of society and the truth is that it is as prevalent today as ever before. Unfortunately, these days many youngsters have become victims and in a majority of the cases, the abuser is a known person, most often a family member, a relative, a neighbour or a friend. That bring us to the all important question; What is abuse? If one refers to the dictionary, the following three definitions will be found: - To treat in a harmful, injurious, or offensive way. - To speak insultingly, harshly, and unjustly to or about. - To commit sexual assault upon. Put simply, there are three types of abuse - physical, sexual and verbal or emotional. Yes, abuse is not restricted to just the physical or the sexual form, many victims fail to realise the signs that they are being verbally or emotionally abused. Most victims unfortunately accept abuse as part and parcel of a relationship and often condone it to the extent that it results in a mental or emotional breakdown. Most importantly, abuse is not age related. People, right from young children to elders can be victims of one type, maybe a combination of two and sometimes even all three forms of abuse. Here we’ve got experts to explain each of the three forms of abuse, the symptoms and what a victim can do to help themselves. Physical abuse According to Varkha Chulani, clinical psychologist and counsellor, physical abuse is when a person touches your body in an unwanted or violent way. It ranges from punching, kicking, pulling hair, biting and choking to harming with a foreign object and can get as drastic as beating to the extent of causing life threatening injury. “Physically abusing someone is the abuser’s way of covering up for their own inadequacies. Abusers are emotionally brittle people with a very low tolerance level to even the slightest mistakes of others. Also, they have the attitude of blaming others and wanting to teach them a lesson. They want to show their superiority - which is actually a cover up for their inferiority,” she says. Unfortunately, due to the societal stigma attached to physical abuse, most victims try to hide the signs of their trauma as much as possible. The signs of physical abuse include unexplained bruises and marks on the body, most often the face, neck and the hands. If hiding them is not possible, most victims will come up with vague excuses like ‘I fell down the stairs’ or ‘I walked into an open door in the dark’ or ‘The pot of hot water slipped from my hand and splashed on me’. Once may be a coincidence but if it happens too often, it should set the alarm bells ringing. Varkha also warns about the hidden marks like those on the thighs or back.