Bullying

Bullying

Commonly beginning during the early school years and continuing into high school and beyond, bullying is a problem that most children face at some point in their lives. With serious emotional fallout for both the bully and the person being bullied, this issue has been growing in public awareness for the last few decades. Without proper intervention and guidance, bullying can easily lead to more serious forms of abuse in later life, beginning a cycle of anger that can be increasingly difficult to break.

Why Kids Bully

At its core, bullying is a struggle for power and then the subsequent abuse of it. It displays many of the same qualities as abuse, having both emotional and physical components and often falling into patterns. Physical, or direct bullying, is characterized by pushing, shoving, threats of physical violence, and any other serious physical acts. Emotional, or indirect bullying, is often more subtle and sometimes even more insidious, threatening the target’s emotional health with by isolating and ostracizing them. If a child is using any of these methods on other children, there could be serious psychological problems at play. People used to just assume that bullies had naturally authoritarian personalities. Now we also can link bullying to damaged self-esteem and anger issues that have not been properly dealt with.

How Bullying Effects Others

Bullying is no longer being waved away as something that every child just needs to learn how to deal with. The more we discover about the severe scars bullying can leave on a child, the more seriously we begin to take this childhood act. Several studies as well as recent events indicate that being the object of bullying can create severe and lasting emotional wounds on a child. If your child begins to exhibit symptoms of being a target for bullies like loneliness, depression, and anxiety, please take it seriously. In extreme cases, bullying has even been known to lead to extremes like suicide in teens.

How We Can Help

Here at Mentaline.com, we understand that bullying is a serious issue. We respect the very real pain your child is going through, whether they be the object of bullying or even the bully themselves. In an effort to stave off the worst outcomes of bullying, we have a plethora of online resources as well as a trained professionals who can lead both your child through the emotional complexities of bullying. We can also help the family understand why this is happening and how they can best support their child as they deal with this.

Definition of Bullying

Bullying is the struggle for power, often between children, and the resultant abuse of that power. It can take both direct (physical) and indirect (mental or emotional) forms.

Symptoms of / Reasons for Bullying

• Anxiety, depression, and loneliness
• Repressed anger
• Self-esteem issues
• Bruising or other signs of physical contact

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