Victims of childhood bullying can have serious long-term mental health impact that can lead to devastating outcomes such as suicide. We have to find a way to avoid these sad incidents. That is why I wrote my first book about long term psychological impact of bullying. Victims need help so we can avoid any life-changing devastating impacts in the future. It is very real and is still happening.
Many in our society today still do not believe that bullying is a real problem. It seems that many people do not seem to understand that every child has his or her own personality. And that is why bullying does not have the same kind of impact on all children. Yes, it is true that some children are able to ignore it and/or fight back and are able to minimize the impact on themselves. But there are many children whose personalities are such that they are not able to ignore the bullying and are therefore affected very negatively. It is our responsibility as adults to make sure that we have a safe environment for ALL children.
Affected children develop emotional issues that can escalate if not addressed in a timely manner. As I travel around the country for my speeches I have observed that many schools now have counselors, social workers, school psychologists who do understand the issue and try their best to help the affected students. The situation is much better than it used to be 30 years back. But we still have a long way to go. ALL children deserve safe environment and we need to do everything we possibly can to make that happen.