June 07, 2014

Effects of Bullying

Have you ever heard of Stress Mindset Measure (SMM) or Mood and Anxiety Symptom Questionaire (MASQ)?  Our book club is currently reading a book that discusses the dynamics of a mindset for happiness. When study results are touted, I almost always go to the source. I check out WHO designed the test or questionaire and WHY; WHAT controls were used and most importantly, were the study results quoted truthfully or did someone spin the stats to promote their own agenda.

It is 4:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning...what else is there to do?

This morning I have been surfing through articles on SMM. Very interesting. Of course, I know how debilitating stress can be, especially over the long term. Several reports discuss the effects of bullying on someone who is already in a chronic state of stress.

The reports found that bullying, especially with a person (or persons) in a personal relationship with the victim can have profound physiological and psychological effects. These effects compound the stress, critically disabling the person from implementing coping mechanisms for handling the stress.

The effects include but are not limited to social isolation, avoidance behavior, depression, insomnia,  hyper sensitivity, trust issues, impulse and anger management issues, suicide and violence. Suicide is pretty extreme but short of that there is at-risk behavior, pushing the limits without caring for your own life. Have you ever heard the expression, "If no one else cares, why should I?"

Social media is having a huge impact on ugliness. Not being face-to-face in our conversations, hiding behind avatars and screen names, seems to promote nastiness. People are not being held accountable for their behavior. How do we change bad behavior without accountability and consequences?

Reality TV also advocates appalling behavior, like the Real Housewives of Backstabbing. If you want to see loathsome actions all dressed up in pretty dresses and fancy houses, tune in! 

How do we teach young people and, for that matter, people in general, that harsh words say much more about the person spewing them than the person they are aimed at?

I was in a CVS store today picking our a Father's Day card for my husband. A young women with two small children were standing one aisle over. One of the kids appeared to be 4 or 5 years old and was trying to talk to her mom. The mom told her to "Shut Up!"  The child continued to talk but now with a little bit of stress and whine in her voice. Again, her mother's only response was to raise her voice and yell, "Shut UP!" The young child stopped talking. I went around the corner and saw the little girl, her eyes filled with tears. Can you imagine,  if that mom talks to her child like that in public, what goes on in the privacy of the home? Can you imagine, also, how that little girl will talk to her children if she becomes a mother.

Remember when Popeye would suck up his spinach through his pipe and shove Bluto up a chimney?
Remember when Might Mouse would fly in and spin the meany cat into the sunset?
Remember when Richelle E. Goodrich said, "Be nice. And if you can't do that, just don't be mean."

"If you can't make the world a better place, just don't make it worse!"

1 comment:

  1. Thank you! There is no accountability in today's world!

    ReplyDelete

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