Bullying can leave targets of it confused, emotionally numb, and put the fight-or-flight response into overdrive. These reactions will happen, as this response is always associated with traumatic stress. After bullies have bullied a target for so long, adverse changes in the victim’s brain began to take place, causing a decline in certain parts of the human mind.
Decision making and emotional control are most affected. Loss of cognitive abilities and a severely diminished ability to control emotions and think clearly and rationally renders blinds the target to any alternatives to their current situation.
This is why victims often snap and do irrational things when the pressure builds to the breaking point.
Because children’s brains are still developing, kids stand a higher chance of this happening. Relentless bullying can cause a child or teen to lose the ability to discern and make choices to get them to safety due to the negative changes in their brains.
If you’re a parent and you know your child is a target of bullying at school, it’s imperative that you help them leave that environment and get them into a new school so that their minds can begin healing and their abilities to make good decisions and reason can be restored!
I agree with your assessment of parental intervention in such cases. Hopefully, parents have an open line of communication with their children as well.
Absolutely! Because it’s hard to get a kid to open up about being bullied. They carry a lot of shame.