Bullying and Mental Health Consequences

According to the American Psychological Association, bullying is a form of aggressive behavior in which someone intentionally and repeatedly causes another person injury or discomfort. Even though bullying commonly happens in childhood, the impact can last well into adulthood. Duke University recently conducted research that shows the rates for agoraphobia and panic disorders greatly increases with bullying. Mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, and low esteem haunt many adults who were once bullied in childhood. In previous generations, many children were supposed to handle their own issues. “Let them work it out” or “ignore it” were popular phrases to encourage resilience from seemingly normal and unstoppable behavior. With many schools enforcing an anti-bullying campaign, the way we treat bullying is changing. Although it may be commonplace, it doesn’t have to be. The most obvious form of bullying is physical. This can be clearly witnessed with little ambiguity to its intention. When a child with more power either socially, physically, or intellectually, hurts another child to gain more control, the targeted child feels threatened. Examples of physical bullying include: kicking, punching, shoving, hitting, etc. Since physical bullying is the easiest to see, it is the most commonly understood form of bullying. Another type of bullying is called “relational bullying,” which can include ostracizing someone from a group, spreading rumors, an...
Source: Psych Central - Category: Psychiatry Authors: Tags: Abuse Anger Anxiety Bullying Children and Teens Parenting School Issues Students Adolescence Coping Skills cyberbullying Envy Insecurity Jealousy online harassment relational bullying sexual bullying Source Type: news