On Thursday Oct 6, I had the opportunity to speak at the NDASP (North Dakota Association of School Psychologists) conference in Grand Forks, ND. The topic of my presentation was “PTSD from bullying triggers obsessive compulsive disorder”. This presentation was based on my first book titled “A Life Interrupted – the story of my battle with bullying and obsessive compulsive disorder”.
The main goal of this presentation was to raise awareness among school psychologists that bullying can have severe long-lasting mental health impact. School administration and staff often believe that once a student (who was a victim of bullying while in school) graduates, there is no impact any more. The purpose of this workshop is to emphasize the fact that for millions of victims of school bullying, that is not the case – in fact, many of them suffer for years because of mental health issues triggered by bullying. It is very likely that if these students had received appropriate guidance and assistance during school years the mental health impact would not have been as severe. This presentation is ideal for school psychologists because they have the unique role of working with educators, counselors and other school staff to detect and assist with any mental health issues among children.
Specifically, the learning objectives of the presentation were as follows:
- Recognize severe anxiety disorders triggered by PTSD from bullying
- Develop a thorough understanding of the way PTSD from bullying can dictate the development and progression of a mental disorder
- Apply the knowledge gained from this workshop to intervene and assist students who might need help in overcoming developing mental health disorders