Recognize bullying as a traumatic experience, urge authors of new report

A study lays bare the devastating impact of chronic bullying and has led to calls for more support for affected children, families and schools.

The research, led by the University of York and the charity Kidscape, involved 18 families with children who have experience of chronic bullying. All of the children—aged between 8 and 18—were found to have clinically relevant symptoms of trauma. For 78% of the children the bullying was still ongoing.

Most of the children (83%) had taken time out of school due to their experiences and 33% of the parents reported that their child had attempted suicide, thought about suicide or self harmed. Many of the children reported not wanting to be here or wanting to come back as someone else. 11% of parents said their child had suffered symptoms of physical illness and 33% had sleep problems.

One participant in the study said bullying had been “devastating to my child’s well-being, confidence and academic progress,” and another described their child “having tummy pain, nausea, headache, panic attacks, challenging behavior.”

The report reveals the overwhelming impact bullying has on the whole family, with parents commonly experiencing feelings of guilt, powerlessness and anger and siblings feeling confused and neglected.

For many parents, their performance at work was affected, with some feeling they had no option but to quit their job to home school their child. One parent described taking unpaid leave to look after their child as causing; “financial difficulty and extreme stress about what happens to her when I inevitably have to return to work.”

Trauma therapy

In the first study of its kind, the researchers trialed the use of trauma therapy to treat symptoms of trauma in the children and their families. All the participants reported finding the therapy helpful and for some of the children (38%) there was a significant reduction in their symptoms of trauma after receiving this support.

The authors of the report are calling on the government to recognize bullying as a traumatic experience and increase support for schools so that they are able to respond more effectively to reports of bullying.

Lead author of the study, Dr. Nathalie Noret from the Department of Education at the University of York, said, “Our study suggests that an intensive, trauma informed approach can help support young people to re-engage with school and reduce their trauma symptoms.

“While this is a small study, it lays bare the truly devastating impact chronic bullying can have on the lives of young people and their families and we are calling on the government to give this issue the recognition it needs.

“The prevalence of bullying and the negative impact such experiences can have on mental health and educational experiences suggests that bullying is a public health concern in urgent need of effective intervention.”

Better support

Bullying is a widespread problem: In a 2022 study by the Anti-Bullying Alliance involving 300,000 children, 24% reported being frequently bullied and 6% said they were frequently cyberbullied.

Numerous anti-bullying interventions have been developed but evidence suggests they only lead to small to moderate changes in bullying behavior, leaving children and young people vulnerable to the impact of bullying.

All the parents in the study had reported their child’s experiences of bullying to their school, but only four parents or 22% reported that the bullying had improved since reporting.

The authors of the current report highlight the lack of support currently available to schools and teachers to help them to respond to reports of bullying. They say further work is needed to see how academics, charities and the government can better support schools to manage complex cases.

Listening

Dr. Noret added, “The key focus for interventions in the UK is on perpetrators and on reducing their bullying behavior, but these are not very effective. There are very few targeted interventions for reducing the impact of bullying on young people’s mental health.

“In an ideal world, of course we would aim to prevent all bullying, but as things stand, a change in focus is needed and we must do more to support those being bullied. Therapy can help children to process their experiences and give them strategies for feeling safe. It gives them and their families the sense that someone is listening.”

Paula Timms, Chief Executive Officer of Kidscape, said, “The evaluation of the trauma informed therapeutic support to children and families experiencing chronic bullying is a positive step forward to us understanding more about not only the impact of bullying on children’s mental health but also how to improve well-being for bullied children in the future.

“I am very grateful to the families that were willing to share their experiences with us during a difficult time and to all our partners and funders for enabling the pilot and research. A strong theme in our young people’s responses was the need to be believed and to have their voices heard. We now know that bullying is a traumatic experience and should be treated as such.

“We have lots more to do, but this a wake up call for all involved in procuring and delivering services to children and young people that timely, trauma-informed interventions can make a huge contribution to saving young lives.”