The impact of childhood bullying on adulthood

I have always tried to be proactive about my mental and physical health and  demonstrated a certain enthusiasm for the environmental and social influences that have led me to become the person I am today. This could be misconstrued as too much navel gazing and a tendency toward the narcissistic, but I'd like to think that I simply have a lively interest in anthropology, psychology and the behaviour of human beings. Why do we do the things we do? From a writing perspective and one that enjoys reading stories about the lives of others, in the form of both fiction and non-fiction - one could suggest I'm bound to have such interests.

Tortured Souls of Midian by PavelFireman .

Bullying, mental health, and other things

I think it  makes sense that I have a particular interest in mental health however, due to the fact that I suffer with mild to moderate depression and generalized anxiety for which I have received medication and counselling in the past.

As a child I was severely bullied from the ages of 5 - 7 and from the ages of 11 - 14, leading to regular nightmares, low moods, low self-esteem and poor self body image, resulting in a half-hearted suicide attempt at the age of 14 (I never told my parents about this or anyone else for that matter). I still suffer from self esteem and body image issues, thankfully the nightmares are a thing of the past, apart from when I'm under an unusual amount of stress or sudden shock.

I have lived with these things and I have succeeded in life well enough, I'm well educated and I have a beautiful daughter and all my life I've had nothing but good physical health. There is much to be thankful for. I certainly see no reason to wallow in self-pity. But to understand is crucial if I am to come to terms with and accept past events.

Toby Pike/Tortured Souls

Link between bullying in childhood and adult behaviour

I do believe the bullying I suffered in childhood had an impact on my behaviour in adulthood and I believe there's a definite link between the problems I suffer with now, as a result of childhood bullying.

Surprisingly, there has been little in the way of research into this particular area before, however, thankfully this is now changing.

In a piece of research carried out last year (2013), research has shown that there is a definitely link between bullying in childhood and adult behaviour, for both the victim and the perpetrator, and also for those who are both bully and victim.

In the study "Adult Psychiatric Outcomes of Bullying and Being Bullied by Peers in Childhood and Adolescence" carried out in 2013, by William Copeland, Dieter Wolke, Adrian Angold and Jane Costello, definite links have been found between behaviour in adults as a result of bullying in childhood.

No one had looked at this in any depth until recently and it has revealed a higher prevalence of agoraphobia, anxiety and panic disorder in adults who've been bullied in childhood. They argued that:

"The effects of being bullied are direct, pleiotropic,* and long-lasting, with the worst effects for those who are both victims and bullies." (p. 419)

1. From Wikipedia: *Pleiotropy occurs when one gene influences multiple, seemingly unrelated phenotypic traits, an example being phenylketonuria, which is a human disease that affects multiple systems but is caused by one gene defect.

They go on to say that "....bullying is still commonly viewed as just a harmless rite of passage or an inevitable part of growing up." (p.419)

For those of us who've ever been bullied, myself included, would be inclined to disagree with that, unless of course they wanted to give the impression of having not been affected by it, and I think that bullying has an insidious impact on all of us who've ever experienced it. 

Not only that, it was also revealed in this particular study how females were at a much higher risk of "psychopathology and suicidality.." (p.420).

So emotional disorders and suicidal feelings are likely to affect a large majority of those that have been bullied in childhood, and rather disturbingly can also radically change the activity in the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis and result in an "altered cortisol response," which in time leads to depression. 

http://imgarcade.com/1/tortured-soul-art/ 

If children are also suffering other factors in their lives to do with, amongst other things - domestic violence and physical maltreatment then this "accelerated erosion," is likely to be even worse. 

We can see then that far from being harmless, bullying in childhood can have a long lasting impact on us as adults. The study only looked at those in their 20's, but all the same, it is clear evidence that rather than a simple rite of passage, bullying can follow us in the shadows long after we've joined the adult world. 

There were also other risks recognized such as poverty, physical health, relationships (and the ability to have them) as a result of bullying in childhood. 

Interestingly, bully-victims, those that were both victim and perpetrator at any time, were also more likely to be diagnosed with "a serious illness, smoke regularly, or develop a psychiatric disorder, compared to those not involved in bullying." They'd also have more chance of being poor in adulthood. 

For those of us nodding our heads sagely saying "I knew it all along," will be more than pleased with the results of this study, but more research needs to be conducted. It's also blindingly obvious that more needs to be done in schools and at home and although there are plenty of agencies with a focus on bullying and awareness raising, attention is only drawn to its insidious impact when there's been a tragedy and the media has drawn attention to it.

http://www.tolerance.org/blog/finding-place-belong 

 Sadly, it'll never be eradicated completely, it's human nature to attack those who are perceived as weaker, but if we can understand it, if we can see what the long-term impact is as well as the short-term, then perhaps we can stop it in its tracks a lot sooner. 

For those such as myself, life goes on, there was much less awareness of the impact of bullying as a child and as a result little was done about it, despite my mother's persistent visits to the school. But there's hope for the future - as long as we continue to understand it and study the long term impacts as well as the short-term ones. 

"To our knowledge, this is the first study to explore prospectively the association between peer victimization in childhood and adult psychiatry, diagnoses and suicidality." 

Let's hope it's not the last......

References & Further reading:

Copeland, W.E,  Wolke, D; Angold ,A, Costello J.E,  (2013) Adult Psychiatric Outcomes of Bullying and Being Bullied by Peers in Childhood and Adolescence   Adult Psychiatric Outcomes of Bullying and Being Bullied by Peers in Childhood and Adolescence 70(4). p.419-424

Advice and Guidance

http://www.bullying.co.uk/ 

 http://www.safenetwork.org.uk/help_and_advice/Pages/cyberbullying-support-services.aspx (for online bullying)

http://www.anti-bullyingalliance.org.uk/ 

http://www.stopbullying.gov/

http://www.childline.org.uk/Pages/Home.aspx