How Bullying Damaged Me...

Students who were bullied in elementary, middle, or high school may suffer lasting effects even twenty or thirty years later.

Most adults have a horror story or two about the school bully. But for some students, the harassment may begin as early as elementary school, escalate during middle school and continue through high school. Years of emotional and physical bullying can cause lasting damage.

Bullying is a form of abuse. One child or a small group may be singled out for harassment, often for little or no reason. Once it becomes a pattern, this form of behavior can spread throughout a classroom or school until a single child or group of "outsiders" is subjected to daily verbal or physical abuse by others.

Types of Bullying Commonly Experienced

For many bullied students, the school years are filled with anxiety and dread. Ex-students recall being singled out for abuse by name-calling, being shunned and ostracized, and even beaten. Students recall being pushed into walls, knocked to the ground, and sustaining cuts and bruises on a daily basis.

Bullying often occurs in contained areas such as school buses or bathrooms. It may also take place in the classroom, school cafeteria, gym locker room, or even in the hallways between classes. Some provide painful testimony of verbal abuse, such as repeated name-calling. Others are jabbed with sharp objects such as pens in the hallway or they're mocked and humiliated in the gym shower or locker room. Many report that teachers and other adults knew what was going on but did nothing to stop the continual bullying.

The Lasting Effects of Bullying

The pain of being bullied in school can be felt years later. Many victims of bullying bear emotional scars that haunt them decades after the abuse has stopped. Many students who had been bullied in middle school or high school report feeling a sense of withdrawal from others, fear of expressing opinions, even fear of closed-in spaces or other places similar to the ones where the bullying occurred. The effects of this trauma are felt for years.

For others, the trauma of years of abuse led to a pervading sense of shame and severe lack of self-esteem. For some, it was the cause of stress and panic attacks even ten or twenty years later.

Personal Experiences of Bullying and Psychological Damage

Older individuals of bullying recount many of their painful and often traumatic experiences with school bullies and the effect it has had on their lives. Many of them report diminished self-esteem, lack of trust in others, hypochondria, and depression.

Many bullies can't begin to understand the long-term psychological damage their behavior causes. Some women said that they still have trouble dating and they may have an intense fear of rejection years later – all as a result of being shunned and taunted at school.

Many male victims of bullying in middle and high school report a continuing struggle as they try to deal with the trauma at the age of fifty or older. Quite a few people who were bullied in school report fearing their children will receive the same sort of treatment



Read more at Suite101: The Long-Term Effect on Students Victimized by School Bullies http://www.suite101.com/content/the-long-term-effect-of-students-victimized-by-school-bullies-a223643#ixzz167fWbIm5