Trauma in the form of bullying: how to intervene
Whilst many people consider those who practice bullying the “mean”, problematic kids, mental health professionals explain that these practices are the result of more meaningful events that deliberated misconducted.
Incidents of bullying are practised in any school, being of public knowledge that these commonly take place among students.
But mental health professionals explain that these incidents are prompted by greater events in someone’s life, normally taking place in one’s childhood.
Childhood Trauma and Parents’ Responsibility
Célia Lopes, a counsellor at Escola Secundária Francisco Rodrigues Lobo College (ESFRL), says that any incidents of bullying are the result of a child’s childhood memory brought to light.
She explains: “In our DNA we don’t only carry the components that give us the colour of our eyes, we carry memories that we often aren’t aware of and capture later since we are authentic computers. This means that people who tend to bully others must have been victims of abuses themselves, even if at a young age and they can’t remember”.
Seemingly, trauma-informed coach, Ana Paulino, says that many children who tend to be more aggressive, behave accordingly due to their childhood experiences in which they were most likely under neglect or some sort of violence.
“If someone has an aggressiveness in their speech or it's a person who gets very angry, then you should know that there was a moment in their life when they were very abused and couldn’t defend themselves.”
According to Ana Paulino, these defence mechanisms are acquired in early childhood, which explains why early parental accompaniment is so crucial for a child's developmental growth.
The trauma-informed coach says that “seemingly unoffensive comments might be just enough to shape the way a child sees themself” and consequently, how they relate to others throughout their life.
She explained: “If I can perceive and understand another person’s pain, it becomes much easier to empathize with that person. Now, if I say, "You're aggressive!", that becomes that person's identity and what am I contributing to? To reject them.”
The trauma-informed coach added that “This can be seen in society and, at schools, this is quite evident either among students’ behaviours or even teachers’ examples”.
In a survey conducted by the Público to students between the age of 14 to 18 years old, 33.6% of the participants stated that they have been victims of bullying at school.
The Público inquired about over 560 students of Leiria schools
The Público inquired about over 560 students of Leiria schools
Trauma-Informed School’s System
Ana Paulino says that it is important for schools to be “informed about trauma and evaluate their school’s policies and practices and promote trauma-informed education”.
According to the specialist, these efforts should be promoted by higher figures, whereas the trauma-informed coach believes the priority should be to trauma-inform those who have more influence and power over society.
“For change to happen, there must be considered a very structured decision on behalf of the governments. And as in all institutions there are people who are traumatized, I would say that this should be the first intervention of them all”.
When it comes to authority figures showing signs of emotional management struggles, Célia Lopes, counsellor at ESFRL college, says that these difficulties are most seen in teachers, with adults (in comparison to students) being more difficult to work in this aspect.
According to the counsellor, these same struggles result in a percentage of education workers not being helpful in solving bullying incidents at schools.
“Not all of them, not even close, but I would say that 5% or 10% of teachers do worse. (They) expose their students and communicate their problems publicly”.
Society as the instigator of misconduct
Célia Lopes says that this conduct reflects those who, within themselves, struggle in dealing with their emotions. And when it comes to society, the counsellor says that it is one of the major contributors to these significant difficulties.
She said: “Generally speaking, we don't respect each other, we're not nice, we don't treat other people well, we're too arrogant. Here in Portugal, we complain a lot, criticize others a lot and don't see that sometimes we criticise others in things we do”.
“If we are unsympathetic, unsympathetic, and we do not apologize, what legitimacy do we have, as adults, to draw attention to the younger ones?”
The mental health professional concluded that she believes the phenomenon of bullying is only an ongoing issue due to people not being able to relate with each other through "empathy and compassion".
Victims of bullying tend to have difficulties in having interpersonal relationships after incidents
Victims of bullying tend to have difficulties in having interpersonal relationships after incidents
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