What Is Psychological Bullying And How To Avoid It?

Psychological bullying is a kind of harassment that consider any manifestation of intimidation or threat towards the victim by the offender. This type of bullying can go unnoticed than, for example, physical or verbal bullying because it can be covered up through psychological strategies of manipulation and mistreatment of the victim.

In the following Psychologyorg article, we explain what psychological bullying is like and how to avoid it, what its causes and consequences are, as well as different ways to prevent it and address it in cases where it is not possible to avoid it.

Causes of psychological bullying

Overall, the causes that cause psychological bullying are normally the same as those that produce any other type of bullying :

In the case of the aggressor: it is likely that the aggressor has certain emotional imbalances caused mainly by unstructured or overprotective family environments that have given rise to an authoritarian, impulsive personality, with no capacity for empathy and a low tolerance for frustration.
In the case of the victim: a victim with a vulnerable or weak personality, also due to emotional deficiencies, or with great simplicity and sensitivity, becoming the perfect target for the attacks committed by the aggressor
In the case of the observer: a group of passive observers that the only thing they can do in this situation reinforces the aggressor, showing themselves totally insensitive to the pain suffered by the victim

likewise, another reason for psychological bullying may be the resentment that the aggressor may feel towards his victim. In these cases, the vulnerability that the aggressor experiences when he begins to feel inferior (not very intelligent, not very creative, not very skilled in certain skills…) can be the springboard that pushes him to start the harassment and the manipulation and intimidation strategies of his victim in an attempt to regain his false but apparent security and superiority.

Consequences of psychological bullying

The consequences of psychological bullying are very devastating. In fact, a large part of the negative consequences of the different types of bullying is psychological, since the victim’s self-esteem is severely damaged by being hurt in an intense, atrocious, and repeated way to the point of causing serious emotional and emotional injuries. victim’s psyche.

Psychological wounds are, as we well know, the most difficult to heal. For a psychological wound to be generated, the person’s mind has created a complex network of beliefs and mental schemes about himself/herself, others, and the world, and undoing this elaborate mental web is a complicated task.

Psychological bullying generates significant mental and emotional wounds in the victim by making them believe that they are worthless, that people are dangerous and that they cannot trust anyone, and that they must protect themselves from everyone at all times to prevent them from harming them. This internal vision, created from all the psychological abuse suffered, causes great unrest within the victim and great discouragement in life.

How to avoid psychological bullying

First of all, to completely avoid any type of school bullying, it is essential to educate children on values from childhood, both in the family context and in the school and social context. This constitutes the best bullying prevention strategy since it would almost automatically cause its eradication or, in the event of an isolated case, it could be quickly denounced by the rest of the colleagues who did not tolerate it, due to this same education in values. , this type of vexatious behavior against the victim.

This will allow them to become good people as adults whose main objectives, beyond getting good professions, success, and money, are to take care of each other and, from there, build good societies that nurture and protect everyone.

Despite the fact that more and more structural changes are taking place in this sense, today educational institution still continues to prioritize the teaching of theoretical content over personal, ethical, moral, and civic education, which is reduced solely to educational work. punctual cross-sections without sufficient strength to carry out profound social changes.

Strategies to prevent bullying

It is essential to make families, teachers, and students aware of the need to establish fair, supportive, and constructive relationships as the only way to grow as people. To accomplish this, one of the strategies to forbid bullying will consist of giving different talks and educational workshops in which the whole educational community participates.

As intervention strategies, once a case of psychological bullying has been located, it will be a priority to carry out effective therapy with the victim as an essential means for them to minimally recover their dignity and self-esteem and stop their personal psychological deterioration.

In turn, therapy with the aggressor, with the group of passive observers, and with the families involved will also be necessary if we want to eradicate this specific problem in its entirety.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Psychological bullying has been linked to anxiety, despair, low self-esteem, and in some cases, suicide, according to research. To ensure that all people may live in situations that are secure and healthy, it is crucial for both individuals and organisations to identify and eliminate psychological bullying. education counselling, and the activities of anti-bullying techniques are all examples of impressive responses.

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