At some point in time bullying has been the worst part of anyone’s life, which one never wants to experience but have somehow experienced. Sometimes we don’t understand about the consequences of bullying and give a huge mental wound to someone. Mostly bullying is a kind of entertainment for people. People also think that bullying belongs to a weak personality. Bullying can be a sign of smartness for foolish people, that’s why they attack the weak or shy person. Bullying may be a nightmare. It may be a seed of some serious mental disorders like anxiety and depression. Does bullying really affect the physical health or mental health? Does bullying harm for a short period of time or bullying has effects in later life? Searching answers to all these questions here we will discuss the effects of Bullying in later life
Bullying
The basic meaning of bullying: seeks to harm, intimidate, or coerce (someone perceived as vulnerable). Going through this meaning you all must have remembered of some incident where either you have been bullied or some random person around you who would have been bullied by you. Even in your adulthood, that incident of bullying(generally happens in childhood) would still haunt you in your dreams. This generally happens because the incident of bullying leaves a deep and rather worst impact on your life which is the effect of bullying in later life.
Grounds for Bullying
There are many reasons because of which a child is often bullied, this includes-
1. Unique names: This is usually seen that a child is bullied at school because of their unique names. Children around tease them by creating funny and sometimes even disgusting versions of their names.
2. Disability: A child with difficulty in speech or any other physical disability is also a pray. Such children are often bullied as they are seen as disabled people by everyone. But the people must know that such children are not ‘disabled’, they are ‘differently-abled’. God has given them some special talents by which they can outshine normal children.
3. Jealousy: A child who is from a wealthy family, having good relationships with everyone or possessing some special talents is often bullied at school. The bullies are the envy of these qualities and want to outshine him/her by lowering their self-confidence.
4. Entertainment: It seems awkward but there are some serious real cases in which person bullies only for entertainment.
Whatever the reason may be, bullying a person to an extreme level is termed as a crime. Bullying causes some serious mental disorders. There are also some penalties in law. Indian constitution strictly condemns such kind of treatments that give birth or strength to bullying.
How Bullying effect
You all should have watched the Bollywood blockbuster movie My Name Is Khan. This movie revolves around a father fighting for the injustice done to his son. He was also a victim of bullying, the bullies went to an extreme level and killed his son. Thus, such children involved in these types of crimes are put into juvenile homes, where they can learn basic manners and return their home as a good human being. As it is already discussed that incidents of bullying leave a deep impact and effects are often shown in adulthood, so let’s highlight some effects which persist even in adults.
Low self-esteem
If you or a person around you would have been bullied at some point in life, then you must have encountered a lower level of self-esteem than a normal person. You must have encountered a sense of fear chilling your bones. When you would have asked to speak in front of a group of people. This happens because at the time of bullying you may think of the situation where you are made a laughing object by the people around you. How to deal with low self-esteem? There is a very simple technique that often leads to elevated self-esteem which is ignoring people who would laugh at you and also ignore the plot on which you were made a laughing stock. If you learn this technique of ignoring and even giving a befitting reply then you may feel an increment in your self-esteem.
Effect of Bullying in mentality
According to a study by the University of Southern California and the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles in 2014, that bullying has clear physical effects on brain structure in adolescents — and that it even differs between sexes. A part of the brain’s temporal lobe that deals with fear, anxiety and emotional response, is called the amygdalae. This was shown to be larger in bullied adolescents, particularly in boys. More horrifyingly, the adolescent victims, particularly girls, were shown to have thinner temporal and prefrontal cortexes. The parts of the brain ‘prefrontal cortexes’ that regulate our social behavior, language, and emotional association effect. Why isn’t fully understood yet, but thinner prefrontal cortexes have been linked to more impulsive, dangerous behavior. Big amygdalas have been linked to anxiety and thus bullying effects in later life.
Effects of Bullying in later life
This is the worst effects of Bullying in later life. Bullied people resort to bad health habits like smoking, drinking and many more. According to a study conducted by the Kings College of London, people who have fallen prey to bullying in their early life resort towards bad habits like smoking, drinking, drop out of college. They are being socially isolated and having a low level of cognitive activity at age 50.
Being bullied as a child is reported to be the root cause of anxiety and depression in some adults. If a person is bullied in his/her early life then it is sure that bullying is the main cause of the depression they developed in their later life. Not only depression any psychological disorder will blame bullying for its existence. This condition of depression happens due to overthinking about the past incident of being bullied by someone and about the level of insult that happened. But it’s not that the victim to such psychological disorders is only the person being bullied. But these disorders often attack the bully. This disorder includes developing an antisocial personality disorder.
Blunt health by Bullying
Bullying can alter your cortisol levels and even hinder the release of some hormones. People release a hormone called cortisol when stressed, helping them cope short-term. Cortisol increases your memory functions and responses if you have faced a bad problem, like a car crash. Studies at the University of Montreal have shown, though, that bullying gradually blunts your cortisol response, and you produce less and less in stressful situations. Not only this bullying also lowers the release of serotonin, the so-called happy hormone. You may feel it a bit weird but our body takes bullying very seriously. One possible offshoot of the “toxic stress” of bullying. It’s been suggested, is the release of a protein called CRP (C-reactive protein) into the bloodstream. This protein of our body is normally associated with a body’s attempts to fight off a serious infection or heal an injury.
Final Verdict
Bullying may provide entertainment stuff but is it right to do such thing which may cause huge harm on anyone’s life? Of course no. Harming anyone’s life can not be right anyway. It should not be dealt with by anyone. Bullying causes serious effects in later life. Anxiety and depression are some of the by-products of it. It harms physical health and leaves a spot on the brain which seeds anxiety and depression for later life. Everyone should be aware of the consequences of bullying so that no one does it with anyone in anyhow.
