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October 16, 2019 by

How Hypnotherapy Can Help Overcome The Effects of Bullying

 

With October being National Bullying Prevention Month, I wanted to talk about different kinds of bullying and how hypnotherapy can help to treat the repercussions.

Kids are often bullied — stats say that 1 in 5 children are the victims of bullying and that a child is bullied every 7 seconds.

Children often won’t tell you if they’re affected. This can be due to fear or humiliation and it can make it hard to know if your child needs help to overcome the effects.

It’s not just kids though. Adults can be bullied too, and it can be just as difficult to admit to.

For children and adults alike, the effects of bullying can be devastating. Anxiety, depression, loneliness, and poor self-esteem can occur because of bullying. In extreme cases, it can result in suicide.

What is Bullying?

Bullying involves intentionally hurting or intimidating another person. Physical bullying is one of the most obvious types of bullying but it can take many different forms.

Physical Bullying

Hitting, punching, kicking, spitting, biting, pulling hair and shoving can all be forms of physical bullying.

Emotional Bullying

Not all bullying is physical. Psychological bullying can be just as hurtful and damaging.

It can include name-calling, spreading lies and rumours, and chronic teasing. It can go hand-in-hand with physical bullying or it can exist by itself.

Emotional bullying is also common in the workplace. It can come in the form of sarcastic comments, gossiping about people behind their back, exclusion from social groups, belittling and put-downs. Office pranks are another example.

Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying is becoming more and more common these days. It can take a similar form to emotional bullying — with the main difference being that it takes place online or through texting.

It can involve sending texts or emails that humiliate the victim, or posting images online that have the same effect.

Cyberbullies can also use the victim’s log-in details to do this — which makes it seem as though they’re the perpetrator.

They may also pose as the victim to encourage online attacks as a backlash.

Racist and Sexual Bullying

Bullying can also be linked to race and gender. Victims can be humiliated because of their race or religion or harassed sexually.

Alienation As a Form of Bullying

Exclusion is one of the many forms that bullying can take. You may be deliberately excluded from social events, for example. Bullies may also gossip about you behind your back and spread rumours to isolate you from other people.

Collusion As a Form of Bullying

Encouraging others to become bullies is another form of bullying. This is quite common in the playground, with children joining in with teasing and humiliating others, for example. Children can feel coerced to gang up on victims.

“Social bullying” can also happen in the workplace. Exclusion from social events is a common example of this, along with being left out of important reminders and announcements. Colleagues may “forget” to tell you about a meeting, for example.

How to Tell If Your Child Is Being Bullied

Because your child won’t always tell you if they’re being bullied, you may need to read the signs instead.

Some of the signs that can indicate bullying:

  • They don’t want to go to school and are frequently “sick” — especially on Mondays
  • They don’t want to talk about school
  • They bunk off school (if they’re old enough)
  • They experience a lot of headaches and tummy aches — which can signs of stress and anxiety
  • Sleep problems or looking very tired in the mornings
  • Not being as chatty as normal or going straight to their room when they get home from school
  • Picking fights with other people in the family
  • Being overly attached to devices or shunning them completely

Bullying and Hypnotherapy

In my Aberdeen clinic, I see plenty of clients who are struggling with the effects of bullying — especially the lasting psychological effects of different forms of bullying.

This can include anxiety and depression that occur as a result of bullying. Children who have been bullied can be more prone to developing anxiety disorders — even well into adulthood — and may go on to have alcohol issues too, according to studies. Trust issues can also be a problem after chronic bullying.

Sleep is another area that can be affected. Many of my younger clients who have been bullied had insomnia — often because of fear and anxiety around bullying. These sleep issues have often persisted into adulthood if bullying effects haven’t been addressed before this.

All of these effects can be treated through hypnotherapy.

Hypnotherapy can also help to increase your confidence and self-esteem — both of which can be shattered by bullying.

Whether bullying started in childhood or as an adult, hypnotherapy can help overcome the damaging effects.

I’ve helped both adults and children to rebuild their lives after being the victim of bullies, and this has included supporting adults who have been living with the after- effects of bullying for decades.

Hypnotherapy for Bullying in Aberdeen

If you or your child has been affected by bullying, let’s talk about how hypnotherapy can help you overcome the effects. Get in touch with me today to arrange an initial consultation, where we’ll discuss your situation and what you can expect from hypnotherapy. Email me at sam@samluxfordhypnotherapy.com or call me on 07867 936505.

You can come and see me in my Aberdeen clinic at 5 Northcote Hill (AB15 7TW) or at the Kippie Lodge Sports and Country Club (AB13 0AB), where I’m the resident Hypnotherapist.

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