Beating Bullying by Thinking Differently

When someone more powerful says derogatory things about you, applies pressure on you to do something against your values or wishes, excludes you, or physically harms you, it’s normal to feel inadequate, embarrassed, depressed, helpless, anxious or furious.

But there are ways to minimise this damage. In particular, psychological research shows that having a resilient mindset makes a big difference in how much damage bullying does.

In fact, if you’re the target of bullying, protecting yourself from emotional wounds can help you resist it and take constructive and protective action.

Strengthening Attitudes and Coping Skills

Educational psychologist Jessie Stewart and I recently worked with 100 students in primary and secondary schools in Melbourne to deliver a program that strengthens positive attitudes and coping skills.

We found that changing students’ mindsets towards the act of being bullied inoculated students from cyber-bullying, verbal harassment, social isolation and physical aggression. Not taking it personally and not blowing the badness of many forms of bullying out of proportion significantly reduces the intensity of students’ emotional responses.

This program builds on my earlier research with students aged 10 to 14, published in the Journal of Relationships Research, which demonstrated significant reductions in their emotional responses to different types of bullying (cyber-bullying, social, physical, and verbal) after adopting a resilient mindset.

It is clear from my research and clinical work with children, adolescents and adults who have experienced bullying that a significant (but not the sole) contributor to the helplessness, despair, depression and rage they experience is a tendency to take the bullying behaviour personally.

There Must Be Something Wrong with Me

“People are picking on me. There must be something wrong with me. I must be a real loser. I can’t cope.” This self-talk reflects an attitude of self-depreciation.

In contrast, people of all ages who have experienced bullying but haven’t let it wound them have a substantial amount of self-acceptance. They protect themselves emotionally by thinking, “I don’t like when people try to bully me, but I am still a worthwhile person. I can cope.”

Epictetus wrote nearly 2,000 years ago that “people are not affected by events but by their view of events”, and Shakespeare said that “there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”

For example, two girls receive the same cyber-message several times, saying that each has been fooling around with a popular boy at a school party and the boy’s girlfriend is on the warpath. Carmen is quite devastated and feels exceptionally depressed about the impact on her reputation.

On the other hand, Alex pays little attention to the message, reminds herself that she is a worthwhile person and returns an SMS saying the sender’s spelling stinks.

Changing the Rhetoric of Bullying 

I am increasingly aware we often disempower people with rhetoric that emphasises how terrible bullying is and implies we have no choice but to feel devastated.

Workplace risk management procedures, school prohibition, and home rules are important to decrease the incidence of bullying. Restorative justice and measures that encourage offenders to take responsibility for their actions and repair the harm they’ve done are also important.

But it is considerably disempowering to harbour the belief that the act of bullying causes emotional misery, and the only way you can feel less upset is by changing the bully’s behaviour.

Using Talking Therapy to Alter Perspectives 

Psychology research now suggests that cognitive-behaviour therapy (CBT) is the most powerful, best-practice intervention for helping young people cope with emotional issues. This talking therapy focuses on changing a person’s negative thought patterns to assist them in viewing the world differently.

State governments have published valuable guides for helping employees cope with workplace bullying, including keeping records, seeking advice, and locating grievous complaint procedures. However, I believe these guides must include illustrations of individuals’ ability to cope with bullying.

Parents and teachers also need to have conversations with young people that include the essential points that acts of bullying are bad. Still, bad does not mean catastrophic, they can cope, and they should not take bullying personally.

While stopping bullies is the ultimate solution and aim, we also must highlight that each of us has great power to cope with difficulty.

All forms of bullying will not be eradicated until we achieve a safer and saner society. We need to ensure that we are helping everyone develop the self-acceptance, self-confidence, and self-belief essential for coping with adversity.