Exploring the Impact of Verbal Abuse on Recovery: A Mediation Study
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BRIEF REPORT
Exploring the Impact of Verbal Abuse on Recovery: A Mediation Study Mark S. Salzer1 · Nirit Karni‑Vizer2 Received: 17 April 2020 / Accepted: 2 September 2020 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Objective People with serious mental illnesses are exposed to high rates of verbal abuse. This study examines the impact of such experiences on loneliness and social support, which is hypothesized to ultimately diminish recovery. Method Fifty participants with serious mental illnesses reported on their experiences with verbal abuse, loneliness, social support, and recovery. Results Verbal abuse was found to be related to loneliness and social support, and both mediated the relationship between verbal abuse and recovery. Conclusions and Implications for Practice Verbal abuse is an all too common experience of people with serious mental illnesses that ultimately affects their recovery. Specifically, exposure to verbal abuse may impact recovery by increasing sense of loneliness and perceived social support. The implications are that a heightened awareness of verbal abuse and its impact on recovery should draw attention to interventions that decrease exposure and increase self-advocacy to combat negative outcomes. Keywords Verbal abuse · Exclusion · Loneliness · Social support · Recovery in mental health Community mental health providers work with people whose mental health is greatly affected by social determinants of health such as poverty, adverse childhood experiences, and prejudice and discrimination (Shim and Compton 2018). Social determinants are believed to especially undermine recovery from mental illness (Castillo et al. 2018). The aim of this brief report is to examine verbal abuse as a potential social determinant that may impact recovery, thereby identifying another factor that may need to be addressed as part of community-based service delivery. It has long been understood that people with serious mental illnesses are at-risk for significant exposure to physical abuse (Brekke et al. 2001; Crump et al. 2013; Hiday 2006). Research has also shown that they experience other forms of non-physical assault, such as microaggressions (Gonzales et al. 2015), which are everyday slights and snubs, whether intentional or unintentional, and verbal abuse (Karni-Vizer * Mark S. Salzer [email protected] 1
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and Salzer 2016), sometimes referred to as verbal violence, which is more direct criticizing, belittling, blaming, insulting, demeaning, or ridiculing language that has been described as causing harm on par with physical abuse (Teicher et al. 2006). Verbal abuse covers a broad-range of comments directed at an individual that cause harm. It is inclusive of most extreme types of harmful speech, including hate speech, “…which commonly refers to speech which demeans or attacks
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