Despite widespread institutional efforts, including initiatives on both the federal and local levels, bullying continues to plague schools and even adult environments all over the country. The unfortunate reality is that most bullies aren’t mature enough to empathize with their targets and thus often subject them to traumatic and potentially life-altering harassment. While bullies may be able to walk away and later disregard their past behavior as just them “being kids,” many victims often develop a lifetime of emotional baggage that follows them into their adulthood. Today we’re going to look into the link between addiction and bullying and how our Banyan Lake Worth rehab can help.
Causes of Bullying: Continuing the Cycle
One article in The Lancet Psychiatry illustrates the extreme long-term effects of bullying and suggests that those who are bullied by their peers suffer more severe trauma than those who are mistreated by adults throughout their lives. The study also indicates that bullying victims have a higher propensity toward anxiety and depression, which are common trauma-related triggers of substance abuse. They also have a higher rate of suicide contemplation and attempts. Research also suggests that bullies themselves are more likely to use alcohol and drugs.
How Is the Victim of Bullying Affected?
The repetitive and traumatic nature of bullying causes many victims to form negative perceptions of themselves that they often carry with them into adulthood. These inherent feelings of inadequacy can cause them to lack the confidence needed to excel in their careers and their everyday lives.
Bullying victims often walk around with a constant sense of anxiety that they’re doing something wrong or that they’re not good enough to be doing whatever they’re doing. This is particularly true if the bullying behavior persists throughout the child’s entire school career, as is often, unfortunately, the case.
It’s also common for those that have been bullied to display an attitude of compliance and try their best to please everyone, as is also typical in victims of domestic violence. It stems from an acute lack of self-worth and the compulsion to be liked and appreciated. These individuals will commonly defer their own beliefs in favor of the opinions of others and are less assertive than someone who has more self-confidence.
It’s also common for those that have been bullied to display an attitude of compliance and try their best to please everyone, as is also typical in victims of domestic violence. It stems from an acute lack of self-worth and the compulsion to be liked and appreciated. These individuals will commonly defer their own beliefs in favor of the opinions of others and are less assertive than someone who has more self-confidence.
Generally speaking, children who are bullied may experience negative physical, social, emotional, academic, and mental health problems. Common side effects of bullying include:
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Loneliness
- Isolation
- Changes in sleeping and eating patterns
- Decreased academic performance
- Suicidal ideation
- Self-harm
- Suicide
Furthermore, children who were bullied only by peers were more likely than children who were maltreated only to have mental health problems, including anxiety, depression, and tendencies towards self-harm. Researchers of this study also concluded that being bullied by peers in childhood had generally worse long-term effects on young adults’ mental well-being.
Effects on the Bully
Not only are bullying victims affected by this act, but the bullies themselves don’t get out unscathed. Effects of bullying on the bully include:
- Alcohol and drug abuse
- Criminal activity, such as fighting and vandalizing property
- Dropping out of school
- Engaging in early sexual activity
- Criminal convictions and traffic citations
- Being abusive towards romantic partners, spouses, or children as adults
Bullying and Addiction
Bullying and drug addiction can affect both sides: the bully and the victim. Many victims of bullying don’t even realize the effect that it has had on them until they’re already suffering. They don’t connect the dots until they go over their past with their therapist to identify the underlying causes of their problem.
In the meantime, trauma-related depression and anxiety have given way to alcohol addiction, or body image issues have given way to an addiction to diet pills, etc. There are any number of scenarios through which bullying can give way to addiction, and they aren’t always obvious and may develop later in a victim’s life.
This is part of the reason it’s so important to address these problems when they happen and educate potential bullies about the consequences of their actions. Many victims of bullying don’t even realize the effect that it has had on them until they’re already suffering.
When it comes to bullying and substance abuse, people who engage in bullying as children are more likely to engage in drug or alcohol abuse, as well as criminal activity and abuse of their spouses, partners, and children. They’re also more likely to experience mental illness, as well.
Breaking the Bullying Cycle
Bullying is not confined to the playground or the classroom. As we get older, there are still aggressive forces at work that will try to impose their will on others while marginalizing and diminishing their feelings. These incidents occur both in the workplace and in social situations. While bullying and harassment must be addressed both in schools and in society as behaviors that will not be tolerated, it’s also important to recognize that, for the moment, they are unfortunate realities. If someone you care about is being bullied by anybody, it’s imperative that you alert the proper authorities.
Identifying Bullying-Related Trauma in a Clinical Setting
The revelation that addiction and bullying are linked may be jarring for some patients. Many may feel embarrassed that they allowed what they initially believed to be such an inconsequential part of their lives to impact them in such a profound and immediate way.
Patients suffering from any kind of trauma-related substance abuse require a combination of group and individualized counseling along with whatever therapies are deemed appropriate by their therapist. These problems didn’t build up overnight and will require long-term, comprehensive care.
BHOPB is fully prepared to help you or your loved one overcome their trauma-related substance abuse. We understand the toll that bullying can take in all stages of life and the psychological impact that it can have on victims.
Our Lake Worth drug rehab offers Florida mental health services, including depression and anxiety treatment, to help clients who are struggling with mental illness or co-occurring disorders recover. Our therapists and addiction care experts will help you confront the trauma that has led to your substance abuse and will help you learn to manage it in a healthy fashion.
You don’t have to let your traumatic past consume you. To learn more about our mental health or addiction treatment in Lake Worth, call Behavioral Health of the Palm Beaches today at 561-220-3981.
Source:
The Lancet Psychiatry – Adult mental health consequences of peer bullying and maltreatment in childhood: two cohorts in two countries
Related Reading:
Mad Men & Drugs: What the Show Taught Us About Addiction in the 1960s
