Introduction
Bullying leads to psychological distress for everyone, but especially for children throughout junior high and high school. This psychological distress can include anxiety and depression, which can alter a student’s sense of self-worth and belonging. There are different types of bullying that can exist in several different extremes, ranging from your friends ignoring you to physical harm. These extremes can also include being ignored or targeted online, which is called cyberbullying. Bullying can also impact a student’s relationship with others they care about, including their own family. This type of ostracization can enable loneliness and an overall decrease to do the things you once loved. Most of the time, children and teens cannot recognize that they are being bullied. Therefore, it is important for one to learn how to recognize and address bullying so that they may feel most supported and move forward from its impact. In this blog, I will outline the types of bullying, its signs, and potential solutions that can help teens in need.
What is bullying?
Recently, bullying has been adopted as a public health issue, which has gotten the attention of different agencies, including the CDC (Center of Disease Control). Bullying once had a specific look, ones you would usually see on TV shows. However, bullying has evolved beyond physical harm. According to previous researchers, bullying has six different categories. The first category is verbal bullying. This includes name-calling, speaking poorly of others, and spreading rumors. The second is relational bullying, which can occur between someone you know, like a friend in your close circle. Relational bullying is often paired with verbal bullying and ostracization. This type of bullying is often paired with verbal bullying. Physical bullying is the second type, which includes hitting others, damaging or stealing other’s property. Gender-based bullying goes hand-in-hand with verbal and physical bullying, which includes things like misogyny, misgendering others due to their identities, and unwanted sex-related actions. However, gender-based bullying can also be paired with physical bullying. Retaliatory bullying can include two individuals targeting each other, especially if one of the individuals were victimized first. Cyberbullying involves targeting the victim through social media and digital platforms. Cyberbullying involves sharing private and embarrassing information of others, for the sake of embarrassing and ostracizing them. Cyberbullying should be classified as a more evolved form of bullying because this type of bullying can occur anywhere and involve several different types of bullying at once. As several different types of bullying can be combined and even follow a student home, it is important that we recognize the signs of bullying.
What are the signs of bullying and its impacts?
One of the first key signs of bullying can be exclusion. It may start off small and not be as extreme as physical bullying. Initially, it can be simple name-calling and go as far as spreading rumors.The bullying can build from there and turn into not getting invited to social events, group projects, and being ignored during the school day or school events. Even further, this bullying can follow you online, such as group chats being made without you, the sharing of personal details that you once shared with someone you trusted, and more. You may notice unwanted touching by others, your peers sharing private or embarrassing photos and stories, and physical violence toward you. This is often done for the sake of getting reactions and shock value from your peers. Ultimately, bullying can either be very obvious or incredibly subtle, but its impacts still carry the same weight.
The effects of bullying are not one-size-fits-all. Unfortunately, bullying can take its toll on both your mental and physical health. For example, bullying can cause you to physically separate yourself from your loved ones and things you love to do. Your parents or friends might notice you do not leave your room or talk as often. You may even notice you are more nervous or anxious than usual, notice your heart beating more, increased panic attacks, or trouble emotionally regulating yourself. This can also include struggling to see your own self-worth. As for your physical health, you may notice stress-induced rashes, picking at your nails, clenching your jaw, decreased appetite, or increased disordered eating habits, and more. Bullying can also impact you by causing unexpected changes in weight and hair loss. Additionally, bullying can impact others besides yourself. It can impact the bully, your friends, and bystanders witnessing these events. The different types of bullying is classified as a stressful event, so its impacts can certainly be harmful, beyond what your bully may have done.
How can you get the support you need?
Considering the impacts of bullying, we need to have different solutions to address it and reduce its impact. First, it is important to identify sources of support within your school. If you have a trusted school counselor, teacher, or friend group, you should share how you feel with them and ask for help if needed. Also, if your school has extracurricular clubs and activities, consider joining one. You could make a friend or create a new support group. One additional thing you could try would be to emotionally regulate yourself. If you are old enough to meet with a therapist or specialist, they could assist you while you manage the effects of bullying and provide tips on how to navigate it. You can also try other means of regulation, like crafting. This can include anything that would allow you to be creative. Also, you could try journaling your thoughts and feelings to better process what is happening. Lastly, you should consistently remind yourself of your humanity. You are human, you will make mistakes, have embarrassing moments, and times when you need to learn for the better. Always remember you are not the first person to make a mistake or do something embarrassing, and you will not be the last. No matter what, while bullying sucks in the moment, things will get better, and so will you.
