Victims of elder abuse often know and trust their abuser. Most victims of elder abuse depend on the people who hurt them, sometimes for food, shelter, personal care, or companionship. Nor is an older person s self-neglect considered to be elder abuse. Neglect is another kind of elder abuse. Sometimes neglect is criminal negligence, a deliberate failure to a dependent s needs.
Elder abuse can also take the form of mental cruelty.
To deliberately humiliate, insult, frighten, threaten, ignore or treat an older person like a child is mental cruelty. Elder abuse may be perpetrated by a family member. This person may be dependent on the victim for money or a place to live. Abuse sometimes happens because the abuser can no longer handle the stress of looking after the older person. Often, it is because of psychological and personal problems.