Bullying. How it affects our mental health?

-by Mureșan Bogdan

IX Grade at CNS

Why did I choose this topic?

I decided to talk about this subject because September is suicide prevent month and even tho
we are in October I would like to honour all the survivors and because there are a lot of
people out there, especially teenagers who are afraid to ask for help because they think people
will see them differently.

What is bullying in the first place?

Bullying is when people repeatedly and intentionally use words or actions against someone or
a group of people to cause distress and risk to their wellbeing. These actions are usually done
by people who have more influence or power over someone else, or who want to make
someone else fell less powerful or helpless.

TYPES OF BULLYING: physical bullying, verbal bullying, social bullying,

cyberbullying, racial bullying, religious bullying, sexual bullying, disability bullying.

Bullying can affect anyone and can come from anyone!

I know that this might be surprising for some people but everyone can be a victim of this
thing called bullying. Of course, that some people are stronger than others but when it
becomes to much it overwhelms anyone. Again, this can be surprising but anyone can bully
you: strangers, people you know, people from your school, your teachers, your classmates,
your so called friends and even your family, and belive me when it comes from people you
trust it hurts more. It is really sad to hear people close to you talk bad about you and make
fun of you.

What impact does bullying has on us and our mental health?

When you are getting bullied you can develop some really bad mental health problems like
depression, social anxiety, eating disorders and more. Sometimes people make fun of this and
call people whit this type of problems attention seekers when in reality they are screaming for
help and no one provides it to them. For teenagers especially it is really hard to ask for help
without being looked at different. And when we tell our parents that we want to see a
therapist they tell us we can talk about our problems with them when in reality they would
turn the whole discussion in an moral making us look like the bad guy for not handling it
better.

Some of the most common mental disorders:

1.DEPRESSION:
What is depression?
Depression(also known as major depression, major depressive disorder, or clinical
depression) is a common but serious mood disorder. It causes severe symptoms that affect
how a person feels, thinks, and handles daily activities, such as sleeping, eating, or working.

Example:
Hannah is a student at a local high school. She was bullied most of her teen years by a girl
that is at the same high school as her. It was mostly verbal bullying but since this school year
started Savannah, her bully, started to hit her each time she wouldn’t give her lunch money or
the test answers. Hannah told her parents about the bullying, but as Savannah parents are very
rich and important in the town, they couldn’t do anything about the situation. So, as a way of
copping with the situation Hannah started to hurt herself by cutting her wrists. When
Savannah saw the scars on her wrists, she started to make fun of her. This went on for a few
more weeks until Hannah had enough so she committed suicide successfully. She left this
world because of the bullying and the intern pain she went through.
Sadly, this happens a lot in the number of teenagers and because some people are rated higher
on the popularity scale, they think it is alright to hurt other people. So, when it becomes to
much the victims try to cope by developing some bad habits like selfharm, which can be done
in different ways. And more sadly a lot of this people do the worse, commit suicide, every
year 703000 take their own lives.

2.SOCIAL ANXIETY
What is social anxiety?
Social anxiety disorder is an intense, persistent fear of being watched and judge by others.
This fear can affect work, school, and other daily activities. It can even make it hard to keep
or make friends. The good news is that social anxiety is treatable.

Example:
Allyson just started high school. At the elementary school she went to she was victim of
bullying. Some of her classmates decided that it would be very funny to make fun of the way
she looked, talked, dressed, about the way she would run in p.e., about the way her teeth,
nose, eyes and mouth looked, but she was a really pretty girl and she knew this before they
bullied her. Now at high school it is hard for her to integrate because she thinks that
something is wrong with her, she is afraid to answer to the teacher questions, she is afraid to
talk in public or walk past a group of teenagers because she thinks that they will make fun of
her like they did in elementary school.
Social anxiety attacks can be really bad and it is not a subject to joke about even tho some
kids our age think it is funny to call people who suffer of this disorder attention seekers.

3.EATING DISORDERS:
What are eating disorders?
Eating disorders are behavioural conditions characterized by severe and persistent
disturbance in eating behaviours and associated distressing thoughts and emotions. They can
be very serious conditions affecting physical, psychological and social function. Types of
eating disorders include anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, avoidant
restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID), other specified feeding and eating disorder, pica
and rumination disorder.

Example:
Mallory was always on the plus side, but she never really cared until she reached 8th grade
and her classmates and family started to bully her. She tried to play it of as jokes but after a
while it became to much and she couldn’t deal with it anymore so she started to skip
breakfast and then lunch and then diner. She started to hide herself in baggy cloths and be
distant. She literally starved herself and from 80kg she reached 50kg in two months and no
one noticed that she wasn’t eating, she was good at hiding. Now people were complimenting
her body, but she developed body dysmorphia, when she was looking in the mirror, she
would see herself as fat, so she continued with the starvation, she reached 38kg when she
fainted at a family gathering. Her parents rushed her to the hospital where she got diagnosed
with anorexia, now she is in rehab, recovering from the damage the bullying caused.
There is a poem, this is what I would call it that hits hard, it is about eating disorders:
I don’t like looking in the mirror
But my body tells me I have to
Because maybe those 2 eggs and slice of avocado toast
Were the true tipping point for the extra pound I ve been trying to shake for days.
I don’t remember the taste of fried chicken
But my tongue is no stranger to coffee, water and tic tacs.
They say you can’t measure happiness
But my mood has been dependent on 3 numbers on a scale not the quality of my day.
I am so tired.
I am tired of checking my body every time I pass my reflection,
Making sure its s no different than yesterday or the last time I felt skinny.
I am tired of going to bed hungry because if I eat any more
I may not like what I see in the morning.
I am tired of being cold all the time,
Of brushing out clumps of my hair,
Of counting food like it’s a number because
I can’t have to many calories or that stupid app on my phone is gonna call me a failure.
I am tired of caring about everything you say
Because maybe you didn’t mean fat when you called me big
But now I won’t eat for 2 days just to make sure you’re wrong.
Now, go ahead, eat your own words.
Because I am not hungry.
So, it is really surprising what effect people words have on us and what impact it can have on
us.

Conclusion:
You should really watch what you say, it can hurt people more than you think. Bullying is not
funny, it can leave trauma that wont ever go away, it can take away people lives, their
happiness, their want to live. So next time you want to judge someone, think twice, it can scar
them for life.

I hope that you all enjoyed this project because I know that I did😊