Thursday, January 30, 2014

How To Handle Mental Bullying

By Serena Price


Nobody forgets a bully from their childhood. It could have been the biggest kid in school who walked around taking lunches or beating kids up on the playground. This individual caused fear to formulate in the minds of everyone he approached. Today, bullies still exist. However, they are not just physical in their approach, but they know how to get into the minds of individuals. Mental bullying is more extreme than it sounds.


This type of bullying comes about when someone tries to get what they want by making someone feel afraid or intimidated by things that one says or does. Contrary to belief, it doesn't just happen on the school playground. It can be found among adults as well. It could be found on the job, or in the midst of intimate relationships. It often comes in the form of threatening, belittling, name-calling, lying, or even humiliation.

Bullies try their best to make someone pay for mistakes that were unintentional. Sometimes, those that ask simple questions are often targeted through the use of sarcasm. No matter what they say, they will always experience some type of emotional trauma. Humiliating pranks and actions are many times used as common disguises for bullying. Every prank done in the workplace is not always what it appears to be.

Emotional bullying often seems very childish, but the mental effects linger on even into adulthood. They tend to leave scars and wounds that are very difficult to heal. Those that have experienced this type of mental abuse, often turn around and become mental abusers themselves. The effects that result on a person's mental health is tremendous. It can often bring about shame, low self-esteem, suicidal tendencies, poor job or academic performance, or even extreme shyness. Depression is often at the top of the list. Many times, the victim tends to over identify with the bully. They begin to defend the bully as well as their behavior.

How to deal with a bully is a question that never goes away. There are usually two choices. Victims can ignore their emotional attackers, or stand up to them.

Adults have more knowledge and insight when understanding the reasons behind the behavior of a bully. Children are innocent and not so wise when it comes to this topic. Just knowing that the attacks of an abuser really is not a personal attack on the victim. It all comes down to who the abuser is and what they've encountered. These individuals oftentimes abuse more than one person.

When someone has this type of knowledge, they would be able to see that mental bullying is really an illness and is really not personal to the victim. People that have this understanding would probably have an easier time ignoring a bully's behavior.

When it comes to standing up to a bully, it may be scary at the first, but it usually has a positive outcome. It forces the bully to change his ways. They may not completely change, but their behavior will be altered in some way. Mental bullying often forces the bully to look at themselves and self evaluate. Those that realize that they have a problem, may want to seek out the proper help that they need.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment