Unfortunately, bullying is something almost every child has experienced at least once in their life while they were growing up. Over 3.2 million people are victims of bullying each year and 160,000 teens skip school every day due to bullying. Even though bullying is a growing problem, 1 in 4 teachers see nothing wrong with bullying and only 4% of teachers will actually intervene. Due to the lack of help in the school system, victims of bullying are often left to deal with their bullying on their own. Bullying can affect a person in two different ways, it can either make you a bully or break you down.
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1. If you can’t beat them, join them
Being bullied can unfortunately turn a person into a bully as well. Their traumatic experiences has forced that person to change who they are as a person in order to defend themselves from their bully. Most victims are bullied because they are seen as an outcast or they are weak. A bully uses their victim’s weaknesses in order to make them feel horrible about themselves. A weakness can include being physically weak, being quiet or shy, or being unattractive.
2. Depression
   For those victims who cannot find help on their own, they go into a state of depression because no one stepped in to intervene. This is a more serious consequence of bullying because it has often led victims to suicide. Suicidal thoughts can occur when a person feels unwanted by their family or peers. They begin to think that everyone would be better off without them. These kind of people should not be left to handle bullying on their own because they reached a state of mind that is hard to come back from.
   Bullying is a form of abuse that is used against a person to show superiority and to make a person do what they want. It is most common in middle school and high school, but can continue into adulthood. It is important to know healthy ways to overcome a bully without allowing yourself to fall into the two main categories.
   Some healthy ways of overcoming a bully is by seeking help from an adult rather than taking matters into your own hands. Sometimes it’s better to allow an adult to step in because they can often intervene to make the bullying stop. Another way is by not isolating yourself because that can make things worse by silencing or reducing your self esteem.
   If you or a loved one are in need of help, please don’t hesitate to reach out for help.
800-273-8255
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
1-800-273-8255
National Teen Dating Abuse 24 Hour Helpline
1-866-331-9474
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