Bullying Effects
Image via Wikipedia
Bullying Guide
Persistent bullying can have very serious consequences on the health; relentless bullying day after day causes stress and with stress comes effects on the health such as fatigue, depression, anxiety, phobias and panic attacks. Anyone who is being bullied will eventually find it stressful and symptoms will begin to show if they are continually faced with stressful situations day after day.
Image via Wikipedia
Bullying Guide
There are many different forms of bullying, it isn’t all physical violence it is also verbal or social abuse, this can be by way of intimidation, making nasty comments and excluding the person. Bullying can consist of threatening, persistent teasing, name calling, ignoring, gossiping and spreading vicious rumours. This done day in day out over a long period of time can have serious effects on your child’s health both physically and mentally.
Stages of bullying
When your child first begins to be bullied the effects can be minor, your child will of course be upset at what is happening to them and may often come home tearful, and they will perhaps go off their food and can also begin to have sleepless nights or bad dreams. If the bullying continues your child will then come up with more and more excuses to not to go to school, they will say they have a stomach ache, headache or other minor illness.
Perhaps if the bullying is taking place in just one or two lessons say for instance PE then they will make excuses just on particular days when they have those lessons. Gradually over a period of time your child will begin to show signs of stress developing; they may look tired and drawn, not sleeping very well, be very nervous and jittery, refuse to go out after school or begin to have panic attacks.
Ideally the problem should never reach this stage because the effects of stress from bullying can lead to self harm and suicide. By this stage you will know something is seriously wrong with your child and probably school will have noticed a big difference in your child too as stress affects learning.
More often than not children are reluctant to tell if they are being bullied due to their own feelings of guilt and shame, only occasionally are they too afraid of the bullies threats to tell.
Bullying Guide
Anyone who is being bullied will eventually have feelings of shame, guilt and embarrassment, these feelings are only normal when you are being victimised day in and day out over a long period of time. The victim of the bully will eventually begin to ask themselves “why me” and will feel embarrassment, guilt and shame that they can’t stand up to the bully and deal with what is happening to them by themselves.
It is important to remember that in fact there are very few people who could deal with persistent bullying over long periods of time by themselves. Persistent bullies are also called serial bullies and there are primarily four different types of serial bully, the attention seeker, the wannabe, the guru and the sociopath:
The Attention seeker
The attention seeker will always want to be the focus of attention; they are control freaks who are excellent in manipulating people. Signs of the attention seeker are:
* Emotionally insecure and immature.
Bullying Guide
Being bullied causes a great deal of conflicting feelings, one of these being anger and since the victim of a bully is usually a non violent person this anger gets held in and can be one of the main causes of depression. Victims of bullies will eventually arrive at the point where they can no longer hold in this anger, this is when they reach the point of boiling and a release of the internal pressure is needed.
As the person is generally a non violent one they can very often turn to hurting themselves instead of lashing out at the bully and very often even attempt suicide. In the United Kingdom alone it is thought that each year:
* Over 5000 people commit suicide.
* At least 16 young people or children commit suicide due to bullying.
* At east 19,000 children will have attempted suicide, this is one every half hour.
* For males between the ages of 18 and 24 suicide is the number one cause of death.
* Over 30% of the workforce in the United Kingdom suffer from mental health problems.
Bullying, harassment and abuse causes severe problems with our health these problems are often diagnosed as stress and anxiety but also includes depression.
Strategies for dealing with anger to help eliminate depression
All targets of bullies whatever their age or gender will eventually come to a boiling point if the anger is left to fester and eventually the smallest of irritations can cause an outburst. This trigger could come from our adversaries but more often than not it will come unwittingly from friends or family.
Anger controls a person and when we become angry we lose control, bullies know this and this is what they are aiming for, this is why a bully will constantly provoke you.
By holding in the anger you are risking your health and by expressing your anger with friends and family you are in theory allowing the bully to control you even after the event.
Here are some tips for getting the frustrations out quickly and early:
* Take an empty plastic milk carton and jump up and down on it until you feel better, do this in private of course.
* Visit a counselor or therapist and talk things through.
* Every time you have a negative thought remind yourself “I am responsible for how I feel”.
* Read books on anger management and ways of dealing with stress.
* Save up all your empty glass bottles and take them to a bottle bank, drop them in and hear the glass shatter, breaking glass is thought to be soothing.
It is important to remember that you are not alone in how you feel, all targets of bullies get angry and let the anger build up until it’s uncontrollable. The important thing is to manage this anger and let off steam when you feel the need to but always remain in control of the anger and don’t let it bring you to the brink of serious depression or worse – suicide.
Filed under: Bullying Guide: Learning About & Dealing With Bullying
Bullying Guide: Learning About & Dealing With Bullying
We have gathered a list of bullying facts to help you get a better understanding of bullying:
* Research has shown that 1 in 6 children are bullied in school.
* Bullying in the workplace varies from country to country, in Norway 5% of the workforce admit to being bullied while in the UK and USA 20% of the workforce say they have encountered bullying in the workplace.
* 1 in 30 workers are serial bullies.
* Bullying can continue for years.
* 84% of workers at some time in their life encounter intimidating behaviour.
* 73% of the workforce are unhappy and say the workplace is oppressive.
* 65% of the workforce won’t speak up out of fear.
* 43% felt a great deal of pressure especially when it came to meeting unrealistic targets.
* 40% of the workforce say they have encountered abusive language.
* 38% of the workforce have been on the receiving end of hurtful jokes or have been the victim of pranks.
* 23% have come across threatening behaviour in the workplace.
* 15% have been on the receiving end of a physical assault.
* 66% of the bullies encountered within the workplace were managers or supervisors.
* 1 in 4 primary school children are bullied more than once or twice a week in any one school term.
* 1 in 10 primary school children are bullied persistently.
* Over 25 children every year commit suicide because of bullying.
* More than a quarter of children get threats of physical violence while in school.
* Bullying against boys is a more frequent occurrence than by girls.
* Around 10% of children have time off school due to bullying.
* Up to 40% of children think teachers have no clue that bullying is happening within the school.
* About 17% of all calls to child help lines are made by children who are being bullied.
* More children in the age group of 12 call child help lines regarding bullying than any other age.
* Almost one third of secondary school children have reported being the object of sexual jokes, gestures or comments.
* Victims of bullying are more likely to suffer from common illnesses such as colds, sore throats and stomach problems.
* By the average age of 23 children who had been bullied in school were found to still suffer from depression and stress related illnesses.
* Nearly 60% of boys who were classified as bullies when they were younger had been convicted of at least one crime by the time they were 23.
Filed under: Bullying Guide: Learning About & Dealing With Bullying
