By Marilena Andreou – July 2022
Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapist
Article published in Cherubs Magazine summer 2022 edition
Do you know someone that has been affected by bullying? This could be your child, a friend or a relative. Have you noticed that is has had adverse effects on their mental health? How could this affect their future academics?
Bullying is a behaviour by an individual or a group, which can be repeated over time, that intentionally hurts another person or group of people.
There are two types of bullying:
· Physical
· Emotional
Sadly, there has been an increase in bullying in young people since the rapid increase of new technologies, which has provided a new medium for bullying known as ‘cyber bullying’.
Some recent statistics indicate how common it is. For instance 1/5 young people have been victims of bullying in the last year.
The prevalence in schools
· 29% of English secondary schools received reports of both physical and non-physical violence.
· 13.9% reported that a student or parent/ guardian had actually reported hurtful electronic postings on the internet (social media) about students.
Unfortunately for those young victims, there is a huge impact on their mental health and education. Strong research has shown that children that are bullied at the age of 7 years old were less likely to be engaged in school 3 years later. Furthermore, those pupils that are bullied at the age of 14 years old were firstly more likely to experience bullying at the age of 16, and secondly had significant lower GCSE grades.
It is apparent that for many of the young people that have experienced bullying at some point in their lives, this can trigger mental health difficulties.
Impact of bullying in young people:
· Less confident
· Lonely
· Desire to avoid school/ college
· Increased risk of depression and anxiety
· Effects extends to later adolescence and adulthood
· Diminished self-esteem
What can be done about bullying?
· Encourage the child/ young person to report the incident (s) to a teacher. By opening up and informing the school, they should be able to put some serious actions into place to prevent future bullying.
· Encourage the child/ young person to confide to a family member, if there is anything that someone has done to upset them at school/ college or even outside of school. This is important as they may not even view this behaviour as ‘bullying’.
· Look out for some warning signs such as the child not wanting to/ or refusing to go to school.
· Parents/ guardians can limit their social media usage or ensure they are safely speaking to others online.
· Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) can be effective for treating individuals who have been bullied and consequently have developed mental health problems such as anxiety and depression.
In conclusion, although bullying is a significant problem for some young people, it is crucial to note that there are things that can be done to reduce further incidents from happening. Furthermore, if parents/ guardians and teachers can work collaboratively together, then this could help to also reduce the impact of bullying on young people.