Coping With School Bullying

Is your child dealing with a bully at school, on his or her team, or online?

Bullying is described as an ongoing approach that is taken by one (or more) individual to harm someone in a physical or emotional manner. This bullying is due to a bully perceiving that a victim has a certain weakness of which they can take advantage during the ongoing process. Unfortunately, bullying can happen at any age and between two or more people. Recently cyber-bullying and other forms of school-aged bullying have been in the news due to the unfortunate suicides that have resulted.

Bullying can take two different forms: physical or emotional. Many adults deal with bullying at the workplace; this type of behavior encompasses hostility, gossip, sexual harassment, and much more. Children deal with bullying at school, sports, after-school activities, etc. Bullying can be especially difficult for children who believe that they are powerless to do anything. In the Montgomery County area, we find bullying and harassment can often be subtle and online. Teasing that can be denied as “just joking” and calling out another child’s flaws in public can still be very painful, causing distress about which parents are justified to be concerned.

Effects of Bullying

The effects of bullying can range from lowered self-esteem to fear of a location (e.g. work, school, etc.). It has also been found that children who are bullied in school may suffer from abnormal development of social skills. Bullied children and adults have also been known to have a lowered quality of life and are more likely to become depressed and/or withdrawn. Unfortunately, suicide and suicide attempts are high among children and adults that are systematically bullied, whether that be physically or emotionally.

Child and Adolescent Counseling Services

Emotional and physical bullying can take a toll on the quality of life of a child or of an adult. Learning how to stop bullying or learning how to deal with bullies is easier with professional counseling services. The victims of bullying need to find the right environment in which they can give voice to their concerns, emotional state, and much more. Child counseling may give a child a safe environment to talk about things that they cannot voice outside of the office.

Since many people that are bullied tend to internalize their problems, a child counselor at Kentlands Psychology can help. Victims of bullying often feel powerless, angry, shameful, anxious, fearful, and do not know how to deal with these mixed emotions. Professional counseling can teach victims how to recognize bullying and how to deal with the resulting emotions. Counseling can also teach the victim of bullying how to voice their concerns to those in a position to help. Often times victims of bullying need help to move forward after the bullying has occurred. A qualified therapist at Kentlands Psychotherapy can help a bullied child get their lives and their emotions back on track.

Our Child and Adolescent therapists (Daniela, Nicole, Jacy, Johanna, and Jessica) are here to support you and your child.

X

Child and Adolescent Clinicians

Details

We are intimately familiar with the pressures on students attending our Montgomery County, Maryland Schools. Grade performance, fitting in, keeping up with the Jones, keeping up with teacher/parent/future college expectations, etc can result in what is known as the “W” schools (Whitman, Walter Johnson, Wooten) pressure cooker.

We’ve worked with many families from Gaithersburg, Rockville, North Potomac, Potomac, and North Bethesda. Let us share with your family the strategies we’ve learned that have been most effective in helping kids dealing with teasing, harassment, and intimidation.

Don’t let these tensions get out of control. Give us a call. We can help.