Abuse is when one person hurts another person, either physically or emotionally. Abuse happens over time, usually in a cycle. It usually continues until the person who is being abused decides to get help. Sometimes, someone else—a friend, family member—recognizes the abuse and jumps in to help.

Physical abuse is when someone physically hurts another person. Hitting, slapping, punching, kicking, burning, hair-pulling, choking and cutting are some examples of physical abuse. Physical abuse often leaves bruises, burns and other physical scars. A lot of times, someone who is being physically abused will hide their wounds with clothes, sunglasses, make up or in other ways.

Emotional abuse is when someone uses insults, criticisms and other hurtful words that make a person feel bad. People who are being emotionally abused might hear that they’re fat, ugly, worthless or will never amount to anything. Emotional abuse is often done in private, but it can also be done in front of other people. 

Psychological abuse is the use of threats or other behaviors to scare someone and reduce their support system. People who psychologically abuse others do so in an attempt to make a person lose touch with reality so the person becomes dependent on the abuser. The abuser might threaten to punish or harm the person, or someone they care about, in order to get them to do what they want. The abuser may “set someone up” by telling them to go to the store, then time them and punish them if they’re late. Other examples of psychological abuse are stalking or preventing a person from sleeping.

Sexual abuse is forcing someone to do something sexual against their will. Sexual abuse includes a lot of sexual behaviors—everything from fondling a person’s genitals and having sexual intercourse to forcing someone to watch porn or perform sex acts for money. Rape and incest are the most common forms of sexual abuse. Sexual abuse can happen to both guys and girls.

Financial abuse is when someone uses money to control another person. If one person has more money than the other person in a relationship, they may withhold financial things from their partner in order to control them. For teens, it might be that one of the partners has a job and because they always pay for everything, they use that power to pressure the other person into things like sex.

Some people believe that physical abuse is the worst kind, but all forms of abuse are harmful. 

To see more examples of abuse, check out Teens Experiencing Abusive Relationships.