Types of Bullying and Impacts on Health and Mental Health

Assignment: Bullying and Harassment

1.) 5 types of bullying and harassment

Physical: Form of bullying/harassment that involves physically inflicting harm upon an individual, that may end up causing temporary or permanent damage to them. Ex. Threatening somebody with physical action in an attempt to get them to forcibly follow your demands, relentlessly beating up someone for masochistic desires.

Verbal: Form of bullying/harassment that involves harming someone through the use of words, in an attempt to belittle them. Ex. Calling someone an offensive/derogatory name based on their racial/ethnic background, spreading rumors about an individual through lies in at attempt to harm their reputation.

Social: Form of bullying/harassment that involves tampering with someone’s position in their social life, usually through lying or manipulation. Ex. Betraying a close one all for the sake of self gain, ruining a friendship between two individuals by tampering with the two’s minds.

Cyber: Form of bullying/harassment through use of technology, commonly with social media related websites. Ex. Harassing someone on social media through the use of an anonymous account, texting an individual harmful or deceptive messages with the intent of harming their self esteem.

Sexual: Form of bullying/harassment motivated by sexual related desires, for self pleasure. Ex. Inappropriate touching of others without consent, pressuring a close one to engage in sexual activity despite their dismay.

2.)  Strategies to avoid bullying

Intervening: The goal of intervening is to get involved in an escalating situation that may result in an individual receiving harassment, and converse with the victim and harasser to ensure the situation never happens again. It is important to avoid escalating tensions between the two however, as simply talking the bully off will only make them more angry, potentially putting the intervener at risk. Dealing with the issue as soon as it happens depending on the severity can also result in embarrassment for either party, which can increase tensions between the two further. Talking privately is a good solution to this, as it ensures safety without worsening things.

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Education: Many people are unaware of the different types of bullying, which directly results in harassment going on around them unknowingly. The best way to resolve this is to learn about the five bullying types, and the clear signs of them. This will allow people to be a lot more perceptive of harsh treatment that may be going on around them, and if they can identify such treatment easier, then they will be able to take action a lot easier and intervene. When educated, these same people can educate other people they know about the five bullying types, thus allowing them to intervene more to. This sets off a chain reaction that greatly reduces the frequency of harassment, making it a lot less common due to more people being well aware of the damaging effects it can have on a person.

Proper vernacular: Many people often use various buzzwords or terms when talking about Mental health related issues. While there is usually no harmful intent with this, it often causes victims of poor mental health to be hurt by them, as they are offensive to them. Using the proper terms instead of slang will help these people to feel more respected, and less alone when dealing with these subjects. (Happy Pill > Medication, Psycho > person with mental health issues.etc)

3.)  Strategies to avoid

Bystander: Being a bystander is when you sit idly by while someone is being harassed, and openly choosing not to do anything to interfere with the ongoing situation. You assist neither the bully or victim, and instead watch from a distance. Despite seeming innocent in the situation, bystanding is actually worse than bullying in most cases, as it proves that you are well aware of an abusive situation going on, yet decide to do nothing to try and stop it despite knowing how harmful it is on the victim. Never be a bystander, and instead intervene when witnessing a scene of bullying, as ending it peacefully will always end better.

Bullying: When seeing a bully in action, often it may seem like the most deserving thing to do is to give the bully a taste of their own medicine, by either bullying them back or pressuring them with a group. This is something that should be avoided, as by bullying the bully, you are effectively acting like one yourself. In addition, if a bully feels threatened, then they are not going to stop bullying. They may move away from the original target, but they will undoubtedly move to another shortly after. This makes the whole confrontation pointless, as the bullying is not stopped, it is just moved to another victim. Only through safely intervening, whether privately or openly, will a bully move on.

4.)  Negative/Positive Mental Health changes

Eating Healthy: A person with poor mental health may decide to change their diet, based on their past unhealthy eating habits, and aim to eat more healthily instead. This would be positively received by a peer for many reasons. Many people are unable to both think and act properly with an unhealthy diet, as they are not getting the proper nutrients the human body requires to function. Ensuring to get enough of the four food groups will allow both your body to function properly, and your mind to make decisions easier. It is almost impossible to think clearly when malnourished, and it causes more negative thoughts to be present in the mind of a person as well. Eating healthier will allow a user suffering from poor mental health to function more efficiently again, allowing them to overcome their problems easier.

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Sleeping better: Similarly to healthy eating, the human body cannot function properly without enough rest. This may cause a person suffering from poor mental health to aim to attain a more consistent sleep schedule, that ensures they receive the required 7 – 9 hours of rest every day. This would be positively received by a peer for, again, similar reasons to that of a healthy diet change. The human body cannot function properly without enough sleep, as it causes the user to feel restless throughout the day. This often leads to the judgement of the user being clouded, as they cannot even think properly. Consistently getting enough sleep resolves this restlessness issue, allowing the user to see things a lot clearer, giving them the opportunity to fix what they are suffering with much easier.

Sheltering: A person with poor mental health may feel the need to distance them from the world around them, as they may believe that in order to fix their problem they need alone time to sort their emotions. This would be negatively received by a peer, as it does nothing to improve the user’s mental health in the long run. One of the best ways to cope with poor mental health is to converse with those you have healthy relationships with. These people are willing to listen, and the outside perspective they provide may be just what you need to improve yourself. While it is good to try and manage your emotions, doing so alone by separating yourself from society will hurt you more in the long run, as it may cause even more negative emotions to enter your mind, making you feel as if nobody is willing to help you. This is not the case, plenty of close ones will always be available to help with your problems, and being able to talk with them will always be a good thing.

5.)  Bullying with Holistic health

I have never really considered the possibility of being bullied when making choices for my holistic health. My environment growing up has always been a healthy one. I never had any problems with bullies at elementary or secondary school, and my family has always been supportive. Never once have I considered if any of my holistic health choices would make me a target of some kind, as I have never really been the subject to bullying before.

6.) Mental Health Article Analysis

The article on mental health that I found is titled “We must learn from mental health tragedies”, and it highlights Marjorie Wallace’s perspective on in-depth investigations on mental health patients’ homicides being canceled.

Overall, I found that this short piece portrays mental health quite negatively. While its overall purpose is to highlight an individual’s concerns over mental health related homicide cases no longer being undertaken, it does not do a good job at it. The article begins by highlighting that of the 120 homicides committed each year in the UK from “someone with a mental illness or disorder”, over half of them were due to failures in patient care. This certainly does not paint those with mental health issues positively, as it quite literally states that 120 commit homicide each year. While this may have been mentioned to highlight how severe the problem is, readers of the article are instantly going to assume that people with poor mental health are mentally unstable, which puts negative attention on them. In addition, the way that mental health patients are described is also very negative. “Someone with a mental illness” is an improper way of describing mental health patients, and it undoubtedly puts negative pressure on these people. The way that the article states that half of the homicides are due to improper care is also very negative, as it leads readers into thinking that the effort that goes into ensuring proper mental health safety is incredibly weak. 50% is a large percentage, and while the article’s goal is to bring attention to the issue, people are still going to view the situation in a negative light. I was able to take away that proper attention needs to be placed on people with mental health issues, but the fact that said attention has just been taken away left me feeling poorly about the situation.

This article does not help in removing the stigma surrounding mental health. The clearest example why comes from the use of “Someone with a mental illness”. This is not the proper terminology, and further encourages readers to use slang more as opposed to the proper terms. The author of the article should have worded it as “A mental health patient” or “Person with mental health issues”. These are all much better terms, and will help mental health patients to feel more respect. The way the article states that 120 homicide cases on mental health patients occurs each year does not help either, and instead paints these people as unstable. It is highlighted that these people need proper care, as the overall goal of the article is to express the concerns on how such investigations are no longer taking place, but readers are certainly going to view these patients in a negative light afterwards. Homicide cases are a big deal, and learning that a portion of them are committed by those with poor mental health is just going to make readers more uncertain about these people.

There are a few things that can be done to this article in order to remove the stigma surrounding mental health. As previously stated, changing the wording “Someone with a mental illness” to “A mental health patient” or “Person with mental health issues” will reduce the stigma significantly, as these are the more proper terms, and they will prevent readers from using slang when describing these people. The article can also be a bit more positive with its message. Mental health patients are almost exclusively painted in a negative light here, being described as homicidal and needing proper care. Focusing on things that can be done to treat these people properly rather than outlining their supposed “problems” will increase readers’ perceptions, and make them more willing to listen. The article can also outline ways that readers can help. Its overall purpose is to highlight the dismays a person has with investigations on mental health related homicides being canceled, yet it never mentions what can be done to help. Many are made aware of the ongoing issue through reading, yet without the proper means for them to apply their newfound knowledge, they are left simply feeling uneasy about mental health issues. Leaving a link in the article with ways on how to help, or simply listing a bunch of options will help lead readers in the right direction, encouraging them to make a difference.

References

• We must learn from mental health tragedies. (2019, July 18). Retrieved from  https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/jul/18/we-must-learn-from-mental-health-trag edies