Bullying: Why is it causing more and more damage?

In recent years we have seen the consequences of bullying, which is any type of physical, verbal, psychological and even cyberbullying harassment against a child or adolescent in school.

For this reason, and because of the increase in the suicide rate as a direct effect of this, it is important to know the signs to know if someone you know is experiencing some type of abuse. What is bullying? And why is it causing more and more damage?

What is bullying?

Bullying, also known as school harassment, is a type of violent and intimidating harassment that is exercised on a person verbally, physically or psychologically, usually in children and adolescents during their school years. Although this can also be seen in work environments, however, this is classified as another type of harassment; it is most common to see it in this period of development.

This type of behavior is usually progressive and worsens over time, causing conflicts in the affected person.

This word comes from English and means intimidation or bullying, and is usually used against people with low self-esteem or a submissive character; where the perpetrator subjects them to continuous harassment and humiliation because the victim does not respond due to fear.

They often occur anywhere, in public places, school environments or even on the Internet; this results in the affected person suffering from the physical and psychological effects of abuse.

Causes of bullying

To analyze the causes of bullying, it is necessary to evaluate why the behavior of the bully, in the case of children and adolescents, is due to a low emotional intelligence; therefore, their empathy is poorly developed and therefore they try to cover up their problems through this type of intimidation without hesitation. ( Read Also: How to Cope with the Loss of a Child? )

These problems often come from dysfunctional homes or a violent upbringing, which causes a cyclical and chain reaction.

This means that bullying is often caused by childhood factors, where bad behavior can cause a child or adolescent to adopt these bad habits and begin to emulate the same ones in others, repeating these acts of submission and harassment that, unknowingly (or maybe not), will cause psychological havoc when they become adults. Therefore, it is very important to deal with these acts to avoid the consequences of bullying. 

What are the consequences and psychological damage caused by bullying?

Bullying brings with it a set of emotional ravages in people, which are usually seen during the course of harassment or late in adulthood and can remain for the rest of life if not treated professionally, some of the consequences are:

Low self-esteem:

This is one of the most frequent consequences, low self-esteem due to harassment is present most of the time in people who have suffered bullying, this usually brings with it problems relating and trusting others, making the stage of adulthood difficult to carry out.

Lack of confidence:

Bullying often brings problems in trusting others and creating strong bonds with people. This causes an adult traumatized by this type of harassment to close themselves off in their own world and create a wall of personal defense so that they cannot open up emotionally to anyone.

Conflict avoidance:

People who are bullied tend to avoid any problems with others, which causes them to be unable to set limits on people trying to please them, so they are usually easily manipulated due to their low self-esteem.

Psychological disorders:

One of the negative effects of bullying is the set of psychological and mental disorders that arise in adult life as a consequence of these. These can range from anxiety, panic attacks or more complicated ones such as depression where the person can end up attempting to take his or her own life.

How to overcome the after-effects of bullying?

The first steps to recover from trauma caused by bullying in the past is to acknowledge that you suffered it in order to deal with it. After this, it is best to seek professional psychological help, since therapy can significantly help in the complete recovery of the mental health of the affected person and provide an improvement that can help the person overcome the trauma.

Finally, it is necessary to seek out support groups with people who have gone through the same situation and can understand the situation you are going through, so that complete healing can occur. Taking all this into account, you will be able to live fully, overcoming bullying to become a fully functional adult and be able to help other people who are going through or have gone through the same thing from an empathetic perspective.