Bullying and Adolescent Mental Health

At some stage of life, most of us experience the detrimental effects of bullying. Whether we're bullied at school or work, bullying can leave us feeling depressed, anxious, worthless, and powerless. Although great efforts are made to reduce bullying, it's likely that bullying will continue. So what if we found ways to help people better cope if they are bullied? What if the victim was able to manage the bullying in a way that didn't leave them feeling down and bad about themselves? 

I decided to investigate this through research involving adolescents. What I found was that bullying-victimisation is directly linked to symptoms of depression among Australian high school aged students.  Surprisingly, this was only true for types of bullying that involves rumour spreading or being excluded, not physical bullying such as being kicked or hit. This might be because physical bullying is more obvious and the victim is more likely to be helped. It might also be that deliberate rumour spreading and exclusion by close friends is more hurtful and as it's more hidden, less help is given.
 
The positive outcome of this research is that adolescents who were able to interpret the bullying in a more positive way (called 'positive reappraisal') felt significantly less depressed. For example, if a bully called them a 'loser', rather than seeing this as true, they might instead think of the bully as simply trying to get attention. So they see the comments being more about the bully than themselves and are not as impacted by it. 
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The really positive side to this research is that this type of thinking can be learnt with  a psychologist! You can find my research above if you'd like to know more.