discussion

PEER 2 :HECTOR

Bullying refers to the constant misuse of power and privileges in relationships that involves repetitive verbal, physical, or social behavior to cause bodily, social, or mental harm. It may take the form of a person or a group misusing their authoritative powers and positions to undermine the rights of those in lower ranks. Bullying may take many forms, such as; Physical Bullying, which in most cases involves intimidating the powerless by beating, taking their belongings, or even threatening them. Emotional bullying involves excluding the powerless from activities or games that make them happy and satisfied. Verbal bullying may lead to physical engagement. This can include insults, shaming, and rumor spreading. Racism involves people from different races and usually involves; boycotting services and products from other races, body painting, and making certain animal sounds. Finally, sexual bullying involves forced physical contact or abusive sexual comments (O`Malley et al., 2022). Cyberbullying is where people use electronic means such as phones and computers to demean, threaten, humiliate, or torment others. It happens on short messages, Facebook, Instagram, etc.

Bullying involves many complexities, as those involved may feel ashamed to share or seek help from others. Children exposed to bullying at school may seem okay in the eyes of teachers, thus making it difficult to be offered the necessary help. The consequences of bullying involve, Physical injuries and pain. This happens when the bully uses objects such as canes to inflict pain on the vulnerable. The injuries may be serious about being attended by a doctor, thus endangering the life of the bullied. Bullying may cause mental problems to children exposed to it as they develop and live with fear and low self-esteem, making them lose friends since they start being lonely. Bullying may lead to truancy in school-going children due to fear of being beaten, ridiculed, or coerced to get themselves into anti-social behavior. This hurts their class performance (Kelly et al., 2021). It may cause emotional feelings of anger and loss of interest in doing chores, playing, or even eating.   It may also lead to anxiety or even suicidal thoughts since the bullied feels there is nowhere to seek help.

 There is a complex relationship between bullying and suicide since suicidal thoughts always begin when one feels like there is no source of help or solutions to the situation he may be going through. The pain, anger, and stress that the bullied go through may lead them to develop suicidal thoughts, which are brought about by mental illness.  In the case of cyberbullying, the exposed may feel ashamed or defeated and feel like there is no place to hide their faces; these may lead to suicidal thoughts (Kwan et al., 2022). The loneliness and low self-esteem brought about by bullying are a source of depression in those exposed to bullying, and it may lead to suicidal thoughts.

Mechanisms should be implemented to prevent bullying in our institutions, such as schools. It involves putting in guiding and counseling programs to help students who have been exposed to bullying. Programs such as plays, and drama should convey messages about the effects of bullying. Parents and teachers should remain vigilant to study and discover any behavioral changes in children. Children involved in drug abuse due to bullying should be taken to occupational therapy for medical and mental repair.