How Can Bullying Cause Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder?

Bullying, by definition “is unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance” (Stop Bullying). Bullying has quickly become a serious problem in schools, and it negatively impacts both the bully and the victim. Students who have been bullied even once in their lifetime have a higher risk of attempting suicide, and in general have lower self-esteem, causing them to have difficulty maintaining relationships. Bullies themselves also begin to harass their peers because they have been abused or uncared for by their own family. While it may seem bullying is just a normal part of the high school experience, victims of bullying can face many psychological problems. Bullying is not something that should be disregarded, but instead should be properly addressed so that children who are bullied can find the help they desperately need.

Bullying is defined as the prolonged malicious act of harming peers by abusing their own--or an existing imbalance of--power, and has become one of the most common sources of trauma among adolescents. One report shows that one of three children were victims of bullying during some point in their life, and that 10-14% of all adolescents were victims of chronic bullying for at least six months prior to participating in the survey. Children who were victims of bullying are also found to be at a higher risk of diagnoses for anxiety disorders and depression during young and middle adulthood. These victims are reported to be more likely to have lower levels of general/physical health, and lower educational acquirements than young and middle-aged adults who were not bullied (Wolke & Lereya, 2015). Because bullying is such a prominent problem, citizens, policymakers, and social scientists alike, should feel or have some social and moral obligation to address, and hopefully avert bullying. The state of bullying, and how it is enacted, is constantly changing and adapting to social frameworks. Because bullies can adapt to social changes and regulations, we, as a society, should be equally adaptive in how we perceive, address, prevent, and punish bullying.

Bullying has become more of an issue that is threatening our younger generation today. Bullying is becoming more of a vicious act in public schools throughout the United States (Coloroso, 2003; Felix & McMahon, 2006). There are many adverse effects that are caused by this disgraceful act. The average school-age child is silently or overtly tormented on a daily basis. Many of these students who experience bullying feel that they have no one to talk to, or that they have no where to go. The motives that the bullies take can cause harmful and even devastating results. In today’s society, bullying provokes emotional, social, and cognitive distress in the

Many people believe bullying is a part of growing up. Some believe every kid will experience bullying at one point or another in life. The time is not taken to think about how it might affect an individual in the future. Bullying shows to affect people’s mental and physical health overtime. When someone is bullied overtime it would have a larger impact on their later life. Bullying can deteriorate both an individual’s mental and physical health in a alarming way. The community should help to learn and provide information on identifying bullying and the affects of bullying. Bullying is extremely toxic to an individual, it may later negatively affect physical formation and function of the brain and how an individual may deal with stress. As a society this topic needs to be more discussed.

Currently, the DSM-5 characterizes posttraumatic stress disorder as a disorder in which clients respond with heightened arousal and reactivity to repeatedly experienced or revisited traumatic situations (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Individuals who have persistently witnessed or been a victim of great violence, such as military veterans or victims of domestic abuse, often develop PTSD as a result of their experiences. A population that has been largely overlooked in terms of their rates of PTSD is adolescent victims of bullying. Bullying in middle and high schools has become a hot topic in today’s society due to an influx of high-profile, severe cases that result in adolescent depression or suicide. The potential for developing

Bullying has been recognized as a risk factor in improvement and personal growth of children and adulthood. It is a form of hostile conduct in which an individual engages to cause another individual harm or distress (Kirves, & Sajaniemi, 2012).. Therefore, it is vital to be able to detect signs of bullying in order to stop further consequences, such as self-harm, and suicide. Children who have experienced bullying become hopeless, anxious, have low self-efficacy, and have recurrent negative thoughts (Kirves, & Sajaniemi, 2012). Research in bullying has also concluded that children who bully other children are more prone to become anti-social and engage in criminal activity (Kirves, & Sajaniemi, 2012).

Childhood bullying has increased over the years. Due to the increase, there are a lot of children who suffer from bullying. Bullying experiences can lead to many health risk. Traumatic experiences often play a major role in shaping psychological functioning. (Espelage, Hong, & Mebane, 2016) gives the readers a better understanding of how childhood bullying can linger through adulthood and cause mental health risk. (Espelage 2016) was a single case study located in the Midwest that consisted of 482 college students. The students completed a survey which measured childhood bullying, and current levels of psychological functioning. While completing the survey the students were measured in six different ways. The first measure was socio-demographic (Espelage 2016), which consisted of race/ethnicity, age, gender, and grade level. Second, (Espelage 2016) implemented history of bullying victimization by using the university of Illinois victimization scale. The third measure was poly victimization, (Espelage 2016) used the adult retrospective version of the juvenile victimization questionnaire. The fourth measure aimed towards depression and anxiety; (Espelage 2016) used the brief symptom inventory-measuring psychological symptoms in community, medical, and psychiatric samples (Derogatis 1993). The fifth measure, measured post traumatic stress by using the short PTSD rating interview (Espelage 2016) (Conner & Baudson 2001). Last, (Espelage 2016) measured missing data by using a

Bullying is defined as the prolonged malicious act of harming peers by abusing their own--or an existing imbalance of--power, and has become one of the most common sources of trauma among adolescents. One report shows that one of three children were victims of bullying during some point in their life, and that 10-14% of all adolescents were victims of chronic bullying for at least six months prior to conducting the survey. Children who were victims of bullying are also found to be at a higher risk of diagnoses for anxiety disorders and depression during young and middle adulthood. These victims are reported to be more likely to have lower levels of general/physical health and lower educational acquirements than young and middle aged adults who were not bullied (Wolke & Lereya, 2015). Because bullying is such a prominent problem, citizens, policymakers, and social scientists alike, should feel or have some social and moral obligation to address, and hopefully avert bullying.

Bullying is a pervasive problem among children and adolescents, and may take various forms including physical (e.g., hitting), verbal (e.g., name-calling), relational (e.g., social isolation), or occurring in cyber space. Previous studies have consistently shown that depression is associated with exposure to bullying. Bully-victims, a group of individuals who are both bullies and victims, are a distinct group at highest risk for psychosocial problems.

As bullying continues to rise amongst children of all ages, it is absolutely crucial to not only find out what implications being victimized have on a child, but also find possible ways to eliminate the negative outcomes they endure. Current research has already gathered an abundance of information surrounding the effects bullying has on its victims. One area of current focus on bullying and victimization is the health effects. Serious negative mental, emotional and physical health outcomes have been discovered. Now based on this information, researchers need to push forward and try to find ways to decrease the negative outcomes not simply look at what the effects of bullying are.

Currently, the DSM-5 characterizes posttraumatic stress disorder as a disorder in which clients respond with heightened arousal and reactivity to repeatedly experienced or revisited traumatic situations (Posttraumatic). Individuals who have persistently witnessed or been a victim of great violence, such as military veterans or victims of domestic abuse, often develop PTSD as a result of their experiences. A population that has been largely overlooked in terms of their rates of PTSD is adolescent victims of bullying. Bullying in middle and high schools has become an extremely hot topic in today’s society due to an influx of high-profile, severe cases that result in

Do something, that is all it takes to save a child from others and themselves. Bullying has a negative impact on children's mental health that can continue into their adult life. Victims of bullying are at a higher chance of developing anxiety, depression, and panic disorders. This is only to name a few of the very serious mental health problems that are plaguing the minds of those who are to lead the world. Although being bullied in childhood affects adolescents’ mental health, there are many of different organizations that seek to help children stop the bullying before it leaves a permanent mental imprint on them.

Bullying can often lead a person(most often kids) into a mindset full of pain and confusion. many kids that

Over 3.2 million students are victims of bullying each year. Approximately 160,000 teens skip school every day because of bullying. 17% of American students report being bullied 2 to 3 times a month or more within a school semester. Bully victims are between 2 to 9 times more likely to consider suicide than non-victims. Bullying and depression are often related. Depression affects both bullies and their victims. Victims of cyberbullying may be at an even higher risk of depression. The link between bullying and depression can also extend to other problems, like: low self esteem, anxiety, high rates of school absence, physical illness. If you see bullying going on tell a teacher or help make the bullying stop, because you don’t want to have the person being bullied have suicidal thoughts, depression, or kill

Bullies might not always be aware of the severe consequences of their actions but this cannot condone the sorrow and pain they inflict upon the victims. Bullying often evokes psychosomatic illnesses. Victims complain about headache, heart diseases, dizziness, nausea and sleep disorder. Bullying becomes the dominating part of their whole life; they cannot do anything without thinking of the horror of the next workday. Weakened as they are, victims become an even easier target for people who want to harm them. It is a vicious circle, hard to break out for those terrorized by bullying. Many of them think of committing suicide as the last way out.