A form of personal injury that does no physical harm but can be extremely harmful to person's reputation or character is called defamation.  Defamation is false and unprivileged spoken words (slander) or written publication (libel) which exposes any living person to hatred, contempt, ridicule or, which causes a person to be shunned or avoided, or which has a tendency to injure him or her in his or her trade or occupation.