Bullying is a phenomena that children seem to experience from peers, regardless of age. It negatively impacts self-esteem, confidence, and can even have lasting psychological impacts on a person’s mental health long term. Not only can it be harmful in the days, weeks, and months following bullying, it may actually last well into adulthood. Learn more about its lasting impact and how to mitigate the effects.
Link Between Bullying and Mental Illness
The experiences faced in childhood can significantly alter a person’s psychological development. Whether a child grows up with two parents, divorced parents, or some other situation including poverty, the trauma can all have lasting effects on a child’s mental health. People who are bullied as children are more likely to suffer from anxiety and depression as they age. The effects of being bullied often experience a drop in self-esteem. It can create feelings of self-consciousness and fear, along with isolation from peers and family. As children mature, they may feel to blame or guilty for the experience of bullying and perceive their flaws as the reason for being picked on. Some other effects include:
- Feelings of worthlessness
- Not engaging in hobbies
- Fearful of others
- Lack of confidence in academics even if they were doing well before
- Anger
- Lashing out
- Becoming withdrawn
- Turning towards drugs, alcohol, or other substances and means of numbing the pain
Responding to Bullying
The main way to help people who struggle with the aftermath of bullying is to catch it right away. It can be difficult to know what to look for, but it helps to ask children and adolescents about what is going on at school and pay attention to the above signs as risk factors. It can also help to find a better response for youth and adults who seem to be struggling with longer term impacts of bullying, by doing the following:
- Encourage discussion around the instances of bullying
- Provide a loving, supportive, encouraging environment in which it is safe to explore what happened
- Find a professional counselor to offer support individually and together as a family
- Discuss the events with school authorities or arrange a meeting if the child is under age
- Find treatment centers for any addiction or mental health issues that pop up as a result of trauma experienced from bullying
Substance use disorder is a very real consequence of bullying. Not only for this person, but the one who did the bullying as well. It helps to seek support immediately but oftentimes it goes undiscussed by the person who was victimized and they are well into adulthood when they face the consequences of being bullied. Drug and alcohol addiction treatment, with a focus on co-occurring disorders, can be helpful for people who struggle as teens and adults with substance use disorders.
Finding help for yourself is the first step in recovery. If you are struggling, we can provide a safe space to detox, get well, and get on the road to healing from the psychological and physical issues that come from addiction and trauma. Our treatment specialists are here to help. Call us 24/7 at our toll-free number: 866-294-9401
from
https://www.serenityrecoverydetox.com/blog/childhood-bullying-can-have-a-lasting-impact-heres-why/
From https://serenityrecoverycenter.blogspot.com/2018/11/childhood-bullying-can-have-lasting.html
from
https://serenityrecoverycenter.wordpress.com/2018/11/12/childhood-bullying-can-have-a-lasting-impact-heres-why/
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