It’s not that targets don’t want to trust people because they do. They want so badly to be able to trust someone not to harm them or to turn on them.
Targets want so much to trust, to be able to relax and to be comfortable in social situations. Only they don’t know who to trust. Therefore, it’s much safer not to trust anyone- safer to put up walls and keep the rest of the world out.
Targets have, over time, built up invisible fortresses around themselves for protection. The problem with this is that these protective fortresses can become prisons and sometimes tombs!
Here’s why this happens:
1. Targets of bullying have been outcasts for so long they don’t trust invitations to event. Even worst, they don’t trust people enough to even talk to them.
2. They get blamed for everything that goes wrong in the environment they’re stuck in.
3. They’ve been treated so badly that they’ve lost faith in humanity.
4. Bullies and their followers have, in the past, baited the target into trusting them somehow, all for the purpose of pulling a joke or prank on him. And the target can no longer risk being fooled again.
Understand that people need human connection. And trust issues are a factor that re-enforces isolation and is no way for anyone to live. It’s a terrible existence and can sometimes create an opportunity for the target to commit suicide.
If you notice that your loved one is isolating themselves or is developing trust issues. It’s imperative that you lovingly talk to them, do a little investigating, and find out why.
Someone just might be bullying your loved one.