Taking A Stand Against Mental Bullying

By Serena Price


Nobody forgets a bully from their childhood. It could have been the biggest kid in school who walked around taking lunches or beating kids up on the playground. This individual caused fear to formulate in the minds of everyone he approached. Today, bullies still exist. However, they are not just physical in their approach, but they know how to get into the minds of individuals. Mental bullying is more extreme than it sounds.

Bullying of this nature is often used in order for a person to get what they want through intimidation or fear. But, don't just think that this pertains to kids on the school play ground only. Adults can experience bullying too. They can experience it in the home, on the job, or through relationships. It often takes on the form of a lie, humiliation, belittling, or sarcasm.

Sometimes, these types of bullies try to make other people pay for mistakes or things that were done to them unintentionally. Sarcasm is also used when questions that are genuine in nature are asked by the innocent. The workplace is a common place where humiliating things that are done or said comes in the disguise of office pranks.

Bullying seems very juvenile in nature, but its negative impact can linger on for the rest of a person's life. It leaves wounds that become quite difficult to heal over time. Mental abusers often turn around and inflict the behaviors of their abusers on others. The way it affects a person's mental health is quite devastating. It can destroy an individual by lowering their self esteem, causing thoughts of suicide, and causing that individual to want to be isolated from others. Depressions is sure to follow. A result that is really disheartening is when the victim begins to identify with the abuser and excuse their behavior.

How to deal with a bully is a question that never goes away. There are usually two choices. Victims can ignore their emotional attackers, or stand up to them.

It requires great insight to understand why bullies do what they do. Adults have more of a perception behind their actions, more so than a child who is plagued by fear would. They are also able to understand that the abuse has almost nothing to do with the victim; but it's all about the abuser. Emotional bullies don't just bully one person, but they bully many.

When someone has this type of knowledge, they would be able to see that mental bullying is really an illness and is really not personal to the victim. People that have this understanding would probably have an easier time ignoring a bully's behavior.

Standing up to a bully is no easy task, but most of the time the outcome will be positive. They bully is forced to change the way that they act. It may not be a 360 degree change, but there will be some type of alteration. It often causes the attacker to take a good look in the mirror and do a self-evaluation. The negative affects of mental bullying may even warrant the abuser to get the help that they need.




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