Abuse. As the words sting in your chest, there are people around you who suffer from it, only that you don’t know the identities of these people, for they are hiding behind those shadows. You may not know as to how they suffer because they just endure it by themselves, leaving them more broken and miserable.

As this horrible issue happens everyday to any kind of person, there are different ways to manifest it by the people who no longer have the decency to respect their fellow.

Verbal Abuse - Some people disregard this matter since they are just painful words being spoken to someone. Though this kind of abuse happens when the abuser throws poignant words to his victims, the result can be more devastating, making him depressed and lose self-esteem and self-worth.

Physical Abuse - Pain is inflicted physically. It doesn’t have to manifest a bruise or a wound just to call it a physical abuse. When one hurts a person because of some reason, that is already a manifestation of this act.

Sexual Abuse - One of the most terrible crime that leaves the victims devastated, sexual abuse happens when the perpetrator harasses, touches, and assaults the victim sexually.

Who says your spouse can do anything to you because you are already married?Apparently, a married woman can still say no if she doesn’t want to have sex with her husband, or the hubby can fight for his rights when his wife is meddling with his personal belongings too much.

Such an abuse is common among spouses, and sometimes it can lead into more serious situation that includes violence, and worse, murder.

Here are some instances of what started as a happy marriage that ended up in brutal relationship:

• 39 women among millions of couple were killed by their husbands (a 1991 to 1999 record by Stats Canada and Canadian Center for Justice Studies)

• 37% of men and women still experience violation despite their separation

• Back in 2002, a quarter of recorded violent crimes are done by a family member (study conducted by Canadian Center for Justice Studies)

To know more information about this, go to:

 http://www.lakesideleader.com/newsroom/volume36/071114/story8.html

The celebration of 53^rd World Children’s Day in Kulala Lumpur is not a mere celebration to promote child awareness. It also aims for child protection from the abuse that increases across the country, leaving the child vulnerable and helpless.

Because of this alarming rate, an amendment of Child Act 2001 motivates several professionals such as medical experts, teachers, and caregivers to report a case of child abuse. By proposing this to the Parliament, it may stop 300 additional cases of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse among children since 2004.

Know more about this celebration in:

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/11/11/nation/19443774&sec=nation

How does an abuse affect someone?

* Leaves the person in agony for some time

* It can lead to depression and other psychological disroder

* Affects his/her performance at work or interaction with people

* When a person finds it quite difficult to move on, it can cause him/her to become a psychologically cripple

* It can cause a loss of self-worth and self-esteem

We have known forever how teens get pressured from the world of dating. The idea of having a boyfriend or a girlfriend seems to be the salvation of other pressure of adolescence like social alienation, the negative impression of virginity, the idea of being “in,” and maybe, this kind of romantic relationship would be for eternity.

While it appears to be truthful to think that it can save them from such teenage pressure, it also becomes a major concern to every individual experience puberty to the point that they become desperate acquiring a relationship which will eventually lead them into thinking that it is better to have bad date than not having a date at all. This thought, however, becomes unhealthy, especially when it opens a chance for their lover to abuse them in many ways.

• It can lead to physical abuse….

  * Out of 15, 240 second year high school students, 8.9% of them have experienced a series of physical abuse like slapping or being pushed, according to a study done by Centers for Disease and Control.

• It can lead to sexual abuse….

  * From the same survey, 9% shows forced sex from their partner.

• Teenagers usually don’t tell their parents about this matter for the fear of separating the teenage couple.

• A partner who can’t deal with a break-up properly may bring him/her into obsession, stalking, and even violence.

Check the entire story in:

http://origin.denverpost.com/technology/ci_7476392

Child abuse. It is one of those devastating issue of one’s life. It is very terrible in any aspect, leaving the child not only unable to enjoy the beauty of existence, but ending his life right before he/she learns about life. Furthermore, the cause of it is more poignant, where the abusers get the full use of their power and hatred against an innocent who doesn’t even understand the reason for such an act.

Many concerned parents, researchers, psychologists, government officials, and advocate groups pursued ways to avoid it, but sometimes, no matter how much they exert effort, all seem fruitless for this matter continues to destroy children’s lives, especially when its rate is also growing.

• Many cases of child abuse were never reported because there are people, especially those who never had the conscience to stop themselves from abusing the kid, who prefer to keep silent than to discuss this matter with the government.

• However, back in 2005, there are several agencies which stated that there were at least 900,000 cases of child abuse were filed.

• Child abuse may occur when he/she no longer lives with the biological parents.

• Countless cases of child abuse were done by the lovers of their biological parent.

• In relation with this, the census showed that 29% of children only live with a single parent. It has increased dramatically since 1977 where it only had 17% of children having a single parent live with them.

• A family law professor at Washington and Lee University, Robin Wilson contended that girls who have divorced parents are more likely vulnerable to sex abuse.

• 2005 journal of American Academy of Pediatrics published a study of Missouri cited that there is a 50% chance of children to get abused by the people who are unrelated to them.

To know more about this matter, go to:

http://www.ledger-dispatch.com/news/newsview.asp?c=229715

You punch your wrist against the wall with all your might. You’re frustrated. You’re mad. You’re tensed. And wait, you are stressed. In fact, all those heavy feelings inside you all boil down to stress. And clearly, you no longer like your response from it; you’re becoming too emotional over petty things and the only thing you want to do is get rid of it.

Beating your stress is not that difficult – if you know what to do and how to do it. This is because there are people who get clueless when they are burned out while some, despite knowing ways to deal with it, can be quite overwhelmed with it, forgetting all those how to’s in the process.

It might be easier said than that, but don’t you get overwhelmed or forget the following things; it might help you to really combat stress in very simple means.

1. Breathe. Geez, you never stop breathing, but when you are stressed , you have to do this in a different way. Inhaling and exhaling deeply would make big difference, especially when you do it repetitively. It will make you calmer and create a way to organize your thoughts.

2. Relax. Breathing deeply is a part of relaxation. On the other hand, there are more creative ways to find a relaxing way to soothe you. Yoga is one of the most popular exercise that practices the art of relaxing.

3. Think of happy thoughts. Happy memories can make you smile and make you at ease. Use this opportunity to forget the hassle and fight the stress.

Perhaps one of the most horrifying experience a woman can have is being raped. Sexually violated, any girl can suffer from paranoia, anxiety disorder, depression and other psychological problems just because his perpetrator is feeling horny or wants to feel power – two of the most common causes of rape.

The terror and the trauma are way beyond words can describe. There is this constant fear that “it might happen again” or questioning one’s self about morality and self-esteem. And it’s not just the victim that suffers from this. Loved-ones who get to learn about this traumatic event can suffer too, blaming themselves for not being of help during the incidence or not being an effective protector. But to make things worse, there is a little possibility that this devastating occurrence might bring into justice since countless cases of rape are not being recorded or reported. Thus, this gives more darkness to the world of the victim, and more freedom of the predator who abused the powerlessness of his prey.

A history professor of Birkbeck College in London, Joanna Bourke uses her expertise in analyzing and defining the very essence of rape, along with those who are involved with it. She writes a book entitled “Rape: A History from 1860 to Present” showing every vivid detail of the reasons, causes, and the result of what seems to be a common disaster to its victims.

Bourke gets down to who, where, when, why, what, and how it happened. She doesn’t just focused on female victims, she also mentioned male rape victims which appear like an uncommon occurrence, but actually exists, only that it is seldom discussed. She also gives attention to sexual abusers.

In order for her to define the subject, she goes back to 19^th century to the present. The result of her study reveals startling matters that go beyond our perception:

• It is believed back in 19^th century that women were accusing rape just to marry the management.

• Women who get pregnant tend to lie that they were being raped.

• The essence of “no means yes.”

• “The immense cultural sympathy for the sexual abuser”

• “The rapist is judged by the moral status of his victim”

• The issue of rape has been a big concern and devastation among feminists since 60’s and 70’s.

Read the entire article in:

http://www.theage.com.au/news/book-reviews/

rape-a-history-of-from-1860-to-the-present/2007/11/13/1194766660670.html?page=2

Your officemate taps his fingers on his table. You grimace at this irritation action because it doesn’t allow you to concentrate on your work. And what makes it worse is that he continues to do his thing, and it annoys you more, triggering you to confront his barbaric stuff.

In this scenario, he’s either really annoying or you may just be stressed, where you tend to react at simple things in exaggerated manner. And when stress attacks you, you may not know what you really can do, since you are too irritated to care about the actions you’d do.]

Stress, as defined by Wikipedia, is “the condition that results when person-environment transactions lead the individual to perceive a discrepancy, whether real or not, between the demands of a situation and the resources of the person’s biological, psychological or social systems.” Its manifestations vary on the person’s capacity to express it. Some of them seem like everything is normal when insider, they are quite tensed and stressed, some manifest it with their appearance, while the others become bitchy about everything.

Here are some of stress manifestations:

1. You feel intensity in your body. This suggests that physical manifestations is also a way to signify that a person is in stress. Shaking, having rashes, body aches, and even having goosebumps are some of the things that may might happen when one is experiencing stress.

2. You get angry easily. It pisses you off when people talk, when problems, even the shallowest one, occur, when they have good time, when they move slowly, etc. When a person is burned out, he/she notices everything and has negative reactions to it. He/she might confront or shout at the person concerned just like the scenario mentioned above.

3. You become emotionally unstable. You feel a mixture of emotions such as anxiety, anger, doubts, and tension. When different kinds of feelings get into you, your reaction, apparently becomes unstable too.

Who doesn’t want to be praised to be a super-model beauty? Well-dressed, gorgeous, and super thin – almost all the famous stars have these qualities.

Since all the famous celebrities and even the models portray such a perfection in their looks, most girls tend to do something just to look like them. Aside from exerting effort to get dressed to kill, they do something with their bodies – perform fat-beating exercises like aerobics and taebo and even undergo a cosmetic surgery to get that “supermodel body.” While some get into health and fitness and spend all the bucks in their wallet, some individuals get into something extreme without putting much work – only that they get to sacrifice their basic need for it.

Wanting to get slim is one of the primary causes of eating disorder like Anorexia and Bulimia. The two have been a big issue which usually occur among girls. While Anorexia drives the person to refrain from eating, Bulimia puts the person into vomiting all the food they take. It seems to be a tough job for these ladies, but sadly, they do it all in the name of perfectly-slim body.

Health experts in many parts of the globe get alarmed by the increasing rate of those who have eating disorders. In South Australia, two out of ten girls get into such disorder. Ilona Kickbusch, a professor says that girls develop an eating disorder because of their determination to adapt the culture of the place, trying to achieve that “ideal beauty.”

To read this study, go to:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/11/12/2088196.htm