Bullying is when a person deliberately and repeatedly hurts someone else.
The hurt can be physical or emotional. Bullying can occur in a range of different contexts, but it is most commonly discussed in relation to children at school, cyber-bullying or people at work.
Bullying includes hitting, pushing, name calling, leaving people out and teasing.
If someone often feels scared or hurt when they are with a particular person or group, they may be being bullied. Bullying is a form of aggression that can escalate into violence.
Cyber-bullying is a particular form of bullying through the internet and mobile phones. Cyber-bullying can include spreading malicious rumours about a person, sending threatening messages, sharing embarrassing images, and excluding people from social networking groups.
Children who are being bullied need adults to intervene and provide support.
Workplace bullying is repeated, unreasonable behaviour directed toward an employee, or group of employees, that creates a risk to health and safety (definition used by WorkSafe Victoria). Four key elements of workplace bullying are:
a workplace conflict that:
is enduring and repeated in nature
is inappropriate and possibly aggressive
results in a level of (physical and/or psychological) distress.
There are three main components of treatment for victims of chronic bullying:
1. Realisation and acknowledgement of the damage and humiliation that has occurred
2. Dealing with the events associated with the bullying
3. Making sense of what has happened, as for any trauma victim.
If bullying is affecting your day-to-day life or your child's, our Psychologists are trained and qualified professionals, skilled in diagnosing and treating a range of mental health concerns, including the impacts of bullying.
