Bullying has and will always be around. It’s not nice; it’s time consuming for teachers and other professionals to deal with and children find it intimidating Peer Victimisation, as it can be referred to, has a huge impact on millions of children, we have all read about the horrific stories about how teenagers take their own lives, or are taunted to do so over social media. Hopefully parents and other professionals can get help for these students. However, do we actually realise the impact of bullying and the long term damage?
Bullying is now recognised as a global health challenge, and yet many researchers still have a limited understanding of the effects and how this behaviour may physically shape the brain.
We define bullying as a repeatedly and intentional, verbal, physical or anti-social behaviour which may be targeted at an individual who is perceived to be weaker, smaller or less powerful. Younger children may bully others by using language or physical harm, as children grow older, bullying may be in the form of exclusion, insult or mock their targets.
Persistent bullying is linked to lower academic achievement, higher unemployment rates, anxiety, and depression, self-harm, stress disorder and suicidal thoughts.
Long term changes within the brains structure and chemistry indicate the huge impact bullying has ion the development of the brain.
Chronic stress and persistent bullying can affect the memory, sleep, appetite and other functions as the brain in continually on alert and not able to repair.
The findings which are written within this article:
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/health/mindandbody/how-bullying-may-shape-adolescent-brains/ar-AAIoDne?ocid=spartandhp
Are very alarming and prove that it is imperative that we all keep a very watchful eye out for children who may be vulnerable to this type of behaviour.
HB tutoring has specially trained tutors who are trained specifically to work with individuals who may have encountered such trauma which in turn affects their emotional and behavioural well-being.