Bullies Need Therapy Not Punishment Bullies are not born, circumstances make bullies. Therefore why can bullies not be helped to make them better adults and have a brighter future? Everyone needs to understand the causes of bullying and try to help prevent it from the underlying cause. By punishing a bully, does that end the problem of bullying or result in more hatred and aggressiveness on part of the bully? “Since bullies are made, not born, rehabilitation is an attainable and preferable alternative to resorting to harsh reprimands or turning a blind eye” (Hanson).
Bullying is a form of youth violence. It is an unwanted aggressive behaviour by one or a group of young persons. It is normally repeated frequently and affects the person physically, psychologically, socially, or educationally. Bullying can be in the form of physical, verbal or social aggression. Another form of bullying is cyber-bullying, which involves bullying through e-mail, a chat room, instant messaging, a website, text messaging, or videos or pictures posted on websites or sent through cell phones (Understanding Bullying - Fact Sheet). The first response to deal with a bully is normally to punish them. They are regarded as a ruthless, emotionless and bad person, who hurt others and therefore they cannot be helped. But most of the time, those bullies do not even realise the impact their behaviours are having on the victims. There are times when they have actually been victims of bullying themselves and to them, this is a way of venting their frustration out (Hanson). A third of bullies are victims of bullying and those kids actually are more prone to depression and suicide (Smith-Heavenrich). Counsellors and psychologists believe that bullies’ behaviours relate to their home environment. There may be a number of factors like fighting, punishment and a lack of praise and encouragement