The Link Between Bullying and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: Findings
Bullying is a topic that many people know about, yet it’s pushed to the side. That kind of behavior can get very serious especially if it’s physical. If the aggressor fights the victim for something he/she has, it can result in physical damage. Meanwhile, cyberbullying and getting verbally abused can affect children’s emotions and mental health. There are plenty of bullying prevention organizations across New York City that are supposed to help both victims and aggressors when in a bullying incident, but are rather difficult to reach. Because there have been many studies that show that children who get bullied develop paranoia and depression, I began to wonder if Post Traumatic Stress Disorder was a possible result of getting bullied.
Throughout the entire research project, I struggled to find someone or an organization to work with. After countless calls and emails with no replies, I took a different path and decided to call hotlines and organizations as a victim to see if I’d get the attention of an organization. Unexpectedly, I still got no answers, which left me in shock because I could’ve been in a serious predicament reaching out for help, yet the hotlines and organizations weren’t at their disposal to help. After months of trying to find someone to work with, I still had no luck. As I began to get frustrated I came to the realization that I tried in different ways to reach out to experts, doctors and organizations so maybe I wasn’t the problem. It became clear to me that the work bullying prevention organizations claimed to be doing, wasn’t being done at all. Not getting any answers shows that all these bullying prevention locations are not as reliable as they should be, their jobs aren’t being done correctly because their websites state that the hotlines provide a 24 hour service and that if you contact the organizations via email, they will get back to you within a few days, yet months had passed and I had yet to get a call back or an emailed response.
Luckily, at a Police Athletic League event, I was able to meet a child psychiatrist, Byron Young, who was willing to be interviewed and willing to contribute to my research. When I interviewed him and began to ask questions about my research topic, his answers began to steer towards exactly what I wanted him to say. For example, when I asked about general long term effects he had seen after a child had been bullied, he shared “lots of effects. Some kids become depressed. Some kids have anxiety, some kids get Post Traumatic Stress Disorder…”(Young). The second he said “Post traumatic stress disorder” I thought that my hypothesis of PTSD being a cause of bullying could possibly be true. However, as I began to ask questions more closely related to PTSD, he said that although PTSD is an outcome of bullying in certain occasions, but the vast majority of children don’t develop this mental illness, but it is possible because it has happened before.
Because Dr. Young and I were able to have a lengthy discussion, I was able to catch the phrases he mentioned the most, one being “the notion of…”. That specific phrase means a vague or imperfect idea of something. Since it was said repeatedly during the interview, I came to the realization that PTSD being an effect of bullying is not something that has been researched and proven. Dr. Young was answering my questions based on his experiences with children he had dealt with, which showed me that it’s a possibility that other organizations and experts turned me down because there is no data nor research to prove that bullying can lead to PTSD.
As a result, from all my gatherings of other studies, my observations and the interview that I conducted, bullying can lead to PTSD. It isn’t the most common mental illness that results from bullying, but it has happened before and may happen again. Although, in order to prevent any mental illnesses from developing in a child that has been bullied, it is essential to seek help immediately. Still, there are many faults in this topic because when reaching out for help, not all organizations or experts will lend a helping hand. Because of the research I conducted, it is clear to me that bullying is a sensitive topic that although it is talked about a lot, not enough expert attention is given to it. Bullying prevention organizations and bullying hotlines don’t answer their phones, proving that this matter isn’t taken as serious as it should be. Both parents and children should be able to reach out for help and receive immediate attention, yet plenty of children are left to deal with their situations on their own, which is a reason as to why children develop mental illnesses after being bullied. Bullying is a serious issue that leads to serious conditions such as depression, paranoia and PTSD. If individuals who work in these kind of sites don’t begin to take their work seriously and work to fulfill their mission statements as posted in their websites, many more children who are now getting bullied may develop mental illnesses that these organizations are supposed to be preventing them from getting. Not only was I able to conclude that PTSD is a result of bullying although it is uncommon, but I was also able to see where the real problem was, which is in the bullying prevention organizations and bullying experts who claim to always be available to help, yet they aren’t.
