Why is bullying bad

What exactly is bullying?

Bullying in its general sense pertains to any act of abuse or intimidation through the use of force, power or pressure by an individual or a group upon anyone. Bullying can be verbal, physical, sexual, psychological or can even be done through the use of ones position of power over another. The targets of bullies are chosen by the oppressors on the basis of religion, gender, sexuality, abilities, disabilities, race, appearance and other classifications, liable to the situation in question. According to the U.S. National Center for Education Statistics, there can be two broad classifications of bullying, direct and indirect; both of which are socially, psychologically and sometimes physically harmful for the victims of the act.

How is it Harmful?

Bullying can be experienced by children as early as in kindergarten or pre-school, especially if the particular child happens to be different from the majority in some respect or the other. Of course, the bullying worsens as children start to get older and that is when it impacts the life of the victims most.

A victim of bullying will find it hard to be comfortable, or cope with the new situations that he/she faces every day. Constant fear, sense of humiliation and lack of confidence are all common effects of bullying on a victim and these may even affect the person in the future. Depending on the severity of the bullying sessions and also their nature, the reaction or the behavior of the victim will vary.

Even at its mildest form, victims of bullying has shown symptoms of depression, insecurity, lack of comfortability, loneliness and a host of other psychological anxieties. All of these symptoms become even more dramatic and their effects turn out to be long lasting as the intensity of the torture increases. It should be noted that bullying has led to death on more than one account. The most common incident in this regard is suicide due to the tremendous psychological pressure exerted on the targets by their oppressors or bullies. However, torture and death from the act of bullying are not totally absent either.

Another type of effect that bullies might have on their targets is the creation of antisocial mentalities among them. In other words, bullies often help to create more bullies through their act of abuse. Sometimes, this can go even further than just the creation of classroom bullies as sociopaths and psychopaths often have a history of being bullied or being bullies themselves in their early life. That brings us to another effect of bullying, but this time around, it is about how the bullies are affected themselves through their own acts.

Although teachers and parents may at times disregard the fact, but it cannot be denied that bullies in schools do have the potential to become criminals in the future. The inherent nature which compels these individuals to impart misery upon others may lead them to do so, on a much bigger scale later in life. Psychological evaluation and strict observation is necessary to prevent any sort of childhood bullying from occurring in the first place; both for the sake of the victims and their persecutors.