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How Bullying Changes Who You Are

In: English and Literature

Submitted By Wenelle
Words 606
Pages 3
How Bullying Changes Who You Are

In recent years, a series of bullying-related suicides across the globe have drawn attention to the connection between bullying and suicide. According to recent bullying statistics, suicide is the third leading cause of death among young people, resulting in about 4,400 deaths per year. Over 14 percent of high school students have considered suicide and bully victims are the ones more likely to consider suicide compared to non-victims. Though many adults see bullying as “just a part of being a kid”, it is in fact a serious problem that leads to many devastating effects for the victims. Therefore, this essay will briefly discuss the types of bullying and elaborate on the following changes a victim goes through, mentally and emotionally, as a result of bullying.

Bullying is the aggressive behaviour towards a specific target, either through physical abuse or emotional abuse. Bullying involves hurtful behaviours that are repeated and intentional. Examples of physical bullying involve giving threats, harassment, humiliation and violence whereas emotional bullying involves name-calling, teasing and insulting someone. And with the Internet, this has created more opportunities for cyber bullying where the victims suffer from social media attacks. Correspondingly, the most damaging aspect of bullying is its repetition and when the victims have to endure this act over and over again for long periods of time, I am strongly convinced that they are prone to emotional problems and poor health outcomes in the long term.

Firstly, bullying can lead to permanent problems in the victim’s life such as self-hatred, low self-esteem or internalisation. The reason for this is that the victims would blame themselves as if it is their own fault that they are the victims of bullying. Their self-confidence continues to deplete and they would feel

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