Signs
The signs of abuse vary considerably among older people and with the type of harm being experienced. An older person who is being abused may:
- Say she or he is being harmed
- Seem depressed and withdrawn; signs of depression in elders are not getting dressed, not performing basic care of themselves that they are able to do, never going out even if they can, inability to sleep or sleeping too much
- Not accepting invitations to spend time away from their family or a caregiver
- Seem afraid to make their own decisions
- Seem to be hiding something about a caregiver
- Not have any spending money
- Put off going to the doctor
- Feel anxious and fearful
- Try to "run away," leaving their place of residence and not wishing to return
- Seem to have too many household "accidents"
Any of these potential signs can indicate problems other than abuse or neglect, and none of these "prove" there is harms occurring. The presence of the signs simply indicate that further inquiry may be necessary.
Read more about this topic: Elder Abuse
Famous quotes containing the word signs:
“But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and I will multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt.”
—Bible: Hebrew, Exodus 7:3.
“The good of a book lies in its being read. A book is made up of signs that speak of other signs, which in their turn speak of things. Without an eye to read them, a book contains signs that produce no concepts; therefore it is dumb.”
—Umberto Eco (b. 1932)
“Among all the modernized aspects of the most luxurious of industries, the model, a vestige of voluptuous barbarianism, is like some plunder-laden prey. She is the object of unbridled regard, a living bait, the passive realization of an ideal.... No other female occupation contains such potent impulses to moral disintegration as this one, applying as it does the outward signs of riches to a poor and beautiful girl.”
—Colette [Sidonie Gabrielle Colette] (1873–1954)