Types of Bullying
Bullying is not limited to any geographical location or age group. It could be found in schools, workplaces, within a family, and amongst friends and the common examples of bullying known are:
Physical Bullying
This involves the use of physical actions to intimidate or take control of a person who is mostly the weaker party. These physical actions include, but are not limited to, punching, kicking, and fist fighting.
Verbal Bullying
This type of bullying is common amongst people who are close and have some sort of relationship. It involves the use of insults, taunts, and name-calling to hurt and demoralize a person emotionally. This could ruin the level of self-esteem of the victim ultimately affecting other areas of their life. It usually comes off as harmless at first with words passed as mere teasing to little insults before it escalates into words that pick on the deepest insecurities of the victim, thereby damaging their mental health.
Social Bullying
This is mostly done behind a person’s back with the sole aim of ruining their social reputation and causing them humiliation. Social bullying is carried out in various ways like:
- Spreading rumors and lying against the victim
- Unfriendly mimicking of the person in public
- Loudly insulting them
- Using nasty jokes to embarrass them publicly
Cyber Bullying
Cyberbullying is not so different from social bullying, the difference is in the environment the bullying is carried out. Cyber bullying is done in the digital space with devices like computers and mobile phones. This is common on social media platforms and it involves posting abusive or hurtful comments about someone, sending hurtful texts or direct messages online, and posting and making false allegations against a person just to ruin their reputation.
Signs of Bullying
Bullying, in any form, can make people feel endangered and insecure. The signs can be emotional, physical, and behavioral.
Some physical signs of bullying in a person include:
- Excessive weight loss or gain
Constant verbal insults made at a victim’s body image could lead to them taking drastic measures to look different which might lead to some kind of eating disorder.
- Unexplained Bruises and Cuts
Finding cuts, scars, and bruises on someone who is being physically abused is someone. Something else that is common is the constant narration of untrue stories that do not explain any of the injuries.
Behavioral signs to look out for to tell whether a person is being bullied include:
- Withdrawal
A person being bullied could suddenly become socially withdrawn and unwilling to relate with their loved ones. They become uninterested, even in their favorite things.
- Affected eating and sleeping pattern
- Frequent Emotional Breakdown
- Anger
- Appears insecure and frightened
Flinching from simple contact with people or jumping at every little sound could also be a sign of bullying.
Effects of Bullying
- Reduced self-esteem
Bullying tells a lot about a person’s self-image. It makes the victim feel weaker and beneath others. It kills their confidence and self-esteem leaving them vulnerable to a lot of things, including more bullying and abuse.
- Constant self-doubt
The victims of bullying usually have a hard trusting anyone and mostly themselves, they do not believe in their ability or existence
- Relationship issues
Other than the low self-esteem, lack of trust, and constant self-doubt, it is very easy for victims to experience issues in relationships due to their mental state.
- Tendencies to bully others
People who have been bullied tend to deflect their insecurities unto others. They could easily become bullies too.
Reasons for Bullying Behaviour
Bullies bully for various reasons and are usually clueless as to what they are doing to others. Bullies are not borne but molded by their environment. These are a few reasons why bullies find bullying others fine:
- Childhood Trauma
This can result in disconnection from and inability to relate with people and this leaves whoever is struggling with the trauma insensitive to the emotions of others. People living with childhood tend to struggle with controlling their emotions, especially anger, which leaves them as easy targets for bullying behaviors.
2. Early Exposure to Aggressive Behaviour
Exposure to violence from the formative age of a person can harm them psychologically Children who were exposed to violent or aggressive behavior can easily become perpetrators of violence as adults.
3. Low Self-Esteem
People who have very low self-esteem often feel incompetent and unloved and in an attempt to cover up their insecurities, they always find a way to impose it on others by talking them down or trying to humiliate them.
4. Family Problems
Growing up in an environment with siblings or family members who would constantly bully and make one feel inadequate could consequently result in one becoming a bully.
5. Past History of Bullying
It has been statistically proven that people who have been bullied in the past, without adequate therapy or treatment, usually end up becoming bullies themselves in an attempt to hide their pains or as a way of revenge.
Conclusion
It is safe to say that bullying is mostly a result of the formative age of everyone’s life. Bullies are bullies because of the environment they spent their formative age in and a lot of people still live with the trauma of bullying. However, there are various ways to manage and come to terms with this. One cannot erase a part of their life, so coming to terms with the past is the first step to healing. Therapy is highly recommended and with time and effort the associated anger, depression, anxiety, and insecurity will start fading away.
