Bullying - Download a Free HealthRock Song

February 06, 2010

Bullying can really be bad. In fact in can be deadly. This month a lovely 15-year-old girl at South Hadley High School in Massachusetts named Phoebe Prince committed suicide because she was bullied so badly. It's the second death of a student in Massachusetts believed to be due to bullying in the past year.

According to reports in the Boston Globe, Pheobe's classmates bullied her when she was riding on the school bus and online, called cyber-bullying. Her picture and address were online along with threatening messages. Other students at her school are also being bullied online. This can be a very bad use of Facebook and other social networks.

What makes Phoebe's death even sadder is that according to the Globe article, her school recently spent $9,000 to have an expert in bullying, Barbara Coloroso, come to their school and tell them how to stop it. The school did not follow any of her recommendations. The expert offered to do a free workshop for parents, but the school did not publicize it.

Have any of you ever been bullied? According to the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, up to half of kids experience it and up to 10% or more experience it regularly. And it doesn't just happen to kids. As many as 1 in 6 adults are bullied at work. That's a shocking percentage of people!

Bullying doesn't have to be physical, either. It can also be verbal or emotional. And it can happen anywhere – on line, at school or where you work, or even where you exercise or pray.

Some kids who are bullied continue to be affected into adulthood – it lowers their self-esteem, they don't want to go to work or school, or they become less social. If it happens a lot, some become suicidal.

So who are these bullies? Many of them have been abused or bullied themselves, and half or more have run ins with the law as adults. They love to control and dominate others, particularly those who are smaller, less powerful, and easy to intimidate. Not cool right? Most just haven't learned to get attention any other way.

What should you do if it happens? First, realize it's not your fault. Talk about it. See what can be done about it. Stay in a group, walk away, tell a trusted person in charge, get parents involved and realize it is the bully who has the problem. You can also learn more about bullying at the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center (MARC).

To raise awareness, HealthRock® is making a free song download available as a podcast.