These categories should be used when an adult has been abused by another adult who is not an intimate partner. Such maltreatment may involve acts of physical, sexual, or emotional abuse.
Examples of adult abuse include nonaccidental acts of physical force (e.g., pushing/shoving, scratching, slapping, throwing something that could hurt, punching, biting) that have resulted or have reasonable potential to result in physical harm or have caused significant fear; forced or coerced sexual acts; and verbal or symbolic acts with the potential to cause psychological harm (e.g., berating or humiliating the person; interrogating the person; restricting the person's ability to come and go freely; obstructing the person's access to assistance; threatening the person; harming or threatening to harm people or things that the person cares about; restricting the person's access to or use of economic resources; isolating the person from family, friends, or social support resources; stalking the person; trying to make the person think that he or she is crazy). Acts for the purpose of physically protecting oneself or the other person are excluded.
Global Mental Health Directory: info@imho-global.org
