{"id":13475,"date":"2024-05-02T21:50:10","date_gmt":"2024-05-02T19:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mind.se\/?page_id=13475"},"modified":"2025-01-06T11:45:44","modified_gmt":"2025-01-06T10:45:44","slug":"bullying","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/mind.se\/en\/facts-about-mental-health-and-wellbeing\/bullying\/","title":{"rendered":"Bullying"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Bullying<\/h1>

Bullying is common and affects adults and children alike. If you\u2019re being bullied, it\u2019s not your fault. However, it can harm your self-esteem and, in the worst case, even lead to long-term mental health problems. No one should have to put up with this. Which is why we need to bring an end to bullying. Help is also available for anyone who is affected.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\t<\/article>\n<\/section>\n\n\n

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What is bullying?<\/h2>\n

If you\u2019re being bullied, you\u2019ve been put at a disadvantage. You\u2019re repeatedly subjected to adverse behaviour by one or more individuals. While there are different types of bullying, all of them can lead to mental health problems:<\/p>\n

Psychological bullying<\/strong> can happen face-to-face by means of looks, expressions, mocking laughter, sighs or constant exclusion from or refused admittance to the group.<\/p>\n

Verbal bullying<\/strong> can include taunts, mean comments or threats from other people.<\/p>\n

Physical bullying<\/strong> can include being punched, kicked or pushed or having your belongings destroyed. School toilets and changing rooms are often places that feel unsafe.<\/p>\n

Cyberbullying<\/strong> is when you\u2019re bullied online. This can include, for example, spreading negative comments, rumours or hurtful images.<\/p>\n

Adults bully each other too. Almost one in ten adults say they\u2019ve been subjected to bullying in the workplace, also known as victimization.<\/p>\n

Bullying puts you at serious risk<\/h2>\n

If you\u2019re subjected to bullying, you may suffer from anxiety, low mood and other mental health problems. You may also experience physical pain, such as headache or stomach ache. Victimization in the workplace is a major cause of sick leave. The resultant illnesses include serious diagnoses such as exhaustion disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).<\/p>\n

Bullying affects people to varying extents, but if you\u2019re subjected to such abuse for a prolonged time, there\u2019s a high risk of serious harm to your self-esteem. It can get to the point where you end up believing what the bullies say, that you\u2019re not as worthy as everyone else. This isn\u2019t true, and it\u2019s not your fault that you\u2019re being bullied.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s common for bullying to evoke feelings of shame and guilt, which can make it particularly difficult to talk about what\u2019s happening. However, such thoughts can make you feel even worse, lonely and ashamed. You may feel that you want to take care of it yourself or that you have no one to turn to. Nevertheless, if you can, it\u2019s a good idea to tell someone you trust about your situation. This can hasten any change while also offering you greater support.<\/p>\n

Where can I turn?<\/h2>\n

If you\u2019re at school and you or a friend are being bullied, you can talk to your teacher, the school counsellor or any other adult working at the school. You can also talk to your parents, who can then contact the school. If you\u2019re an adult and you notice that a child is being bullied at school, you can contact the staff. Schools are legally obligated to have a plan in place for dealing with bullying.<\/p>\n

Sweden has no legislation on bullying in the workplace, but in March 2016, new provisions on the organizational and social work environment came into force. These set out the employer\u2019s responsibility in relation to victimization. Among other things, employers are responsible for the prevention of victimization.<\/p>\n

If your mental health starts to worsen, it\u2019s important that you seek help. You can contact your healthcare centre or a psychiatric outpatient clinic. If you\u2019re feeling so low that you\u2019re having suicidal thoughts, don\u2019t delay, seek immediate medical attention at a psychiatric emergency clinic or call 112.<\/p>\n

Report crimes to the police<\/h2>\n

If the bullying leads to you becoming a victim of crime, you should report the matter to the police. It could be classed as assault, hate crime or defamation. Contact the police for advice.<\/p>\n

Everyone can help<\/h2>\n

Showing moral courage and intervening when someone else is being targeted is important to help put a stop to bullying in society. It\u2019s better to act in some way than to turn a blind eye. You can help the person being bullied in different ways, such as by telling the bully to stop, asking an adult for help or telling someone what happened after the event. You can also provide moral support by always greeting or sitting next to someone sitting alone.<\/p>\n

Reviewed by:<\/strong> Ylva Bjereld, associate professor of social work, University of Gothenburg.<\/p>\n

Last edited 2024-01-15<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>\n<\/section>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":16930,"featured_media":8675,"parent":13346,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"Bullying affects adults and children. It can harm your self-esteem and, at worst, lead to long-term mental health issues. There are different forms of bullying.","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-13475","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mind.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mind.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mind.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mind.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16930"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mind.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13475"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mind.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13475\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13478,"href":"https:\/\/mind.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13475\/revisions\/13478"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mind.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13346"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mind.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mind.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}