How to tackle psychological impacts on students who are bullied
Children who are bullied are more likely to experience depression and anxiety, increased feelings of sadness and loneliness, changes in sleep and eating patterns, and loss of interest in activities they used to enjoy. There may also be a decline in their academic achievement and school participation. They are more likely to miss, skip, or drop out of school. A very small number of bullied children might retaliate through extremely violent measures.
Studies have shown that children who are bullied can experience negative effects on their physical and mental health more than 40 years later. Bullying has been linked with post traumatic stress disorder. The harmful effect of bullying remains even when other factors including childhood IQ, emotional and behavioural problems and parents’ socioeconomic status were taken into account. It is therefore important that we take bullying seriously and not just brush it off.
If a child is being bullied, they may find it difficult to tell someone about this as they may feel embarrassed or ashamed it is happening to them. Sometimes they feel they are somehow to blame or feel scared that if the bully finds out that they told, it will get worse. If your child does share then it is important they are praised for doing so.
Because the term “bullying” might be used to describe such a wide range of situations, there’s no single approach to suit all scenarios. Factors such as the age of the students involved, the severity of the situation, and the specific type of bullying behaviors will help determine the best course of action.
In general, however, ensure you listen carefully and respectfully, explain why children bully so child does not blame themselves (often bullies are being bullied themselves
Interventions against bullying should be targeted at the peergroup level rather than at individual bullies, victims.” in some area of their life), try to problem solve how they can respond and create a safety plan if happens again.
Work to restore the child’s confidence and remember that bullying is often a repeated behaviour so follow discussion up with your child. It is important not to advise a child to fight back as this can escalate the situation. Instead they should be encouraged to walk away from the situation, hang out with others, and tell an adult.
School-based programmes are important to raise awareness of the impact of bullying. These need to consider not only the individual reasons as to why a child may bully but also need to target bullying as a “group process”. As such, interventions against bullying should be targeted at the peergroup level rather than solely at individual bullies and victims.