700,000 students are victims each year of bullying, mockery on a daily basis, even exclusion and physical violence. If this is the case, parents must act with the child but also with the teacher; quick !
Simple arguments between friends or more serious problem… How do you know if the yellow line has been crossed and that a child is the victim of bullying? It is difficult, especially when it comes to bullying as it is most frequent in school. What are these acts of harassment? repeated insults, blackmail, humiliation, sexual provocations… All these acts are often hidden and derided. Certain signs should nevertheless alert: sleep disorders, a child who is irritable, agitated, particularly susceptible, or who has stomach aches or eczema. A decline in school performance, or a withdrawal into oneself can also be a sign of bullying.
Contact teachers.
Faced with such signs, do not hesitate to contact the teacher because 8% of students are victims of severe verbal harassment. It is true that the child often refuses his parents to alert the teaching staff. It is a real dilemma, especially as a bullied child is in a weak position; defending himself by alerting his teachers risks confirming in his eyes and those of his entourage that he is incapable of defending himself on his own.
We must therefore first try to give him weapons so that he can defend himself on his own, with the risk if he has already been the victim of real harassment for a long time, that it is already too late.
The child will not cope alone.
One rule: if the child is devaluing himself in the eyes of his parents, we must act. Psychiatrists say that we must stop believing that harassment is an inevitable passage and that everyone has been there. We must not wait too long to act and get the child out of what becomes a vicious circle. Because the studies are all in the same direction: bullying at school leaves lasting consequences. They show that the psychological consequences of the bullying suffered at school are still vivid several decades later. At 50, these people not only have a higher level of stress than those who have not been the pain relievers of their comrades. Their risks of depression, anxiety disorders and suicidal thoughts are also doubled. For Professor Louis Jehel, head of the psychiatry service in Martinique, recurrent situations of harassment at school constitute a real psychological trauma, the consequences of which can be similar to the post-traumatic stress syndrome experienced by rape victims. or an attack, for example.
This does not mean that it is absolutely necessary to medicalize a situation of bullying if it is taken into account by the parents and the educational team, which should be sufficient. The most important consequences are observed in children who have killed their bullying or who have benefited little from family and educational support that could have helped them develop strategies to fight.
.