It's different for different people, but I believe that being bullied can develop depression that wasn't there in the first place. Some who are bullied may be depressed in the first place but the bullying aggravates it, or a pre-existing condition.
To me saying that bullying doesn't cause or aggravate depression is yet another copout of fully addressing the problem by making it appear less a problem than it it.
I think it's kind of a "which came first, the chicken or the egg?" thing. You can have people who are already depressed who become victims of bullying, but there are also people who are bullied and then become depressed as a result. There's no one answer as to what causes what here, and both can feed into each other.
The rest of that? Well, my response is kind of "no duh, CNN." Of course bullies will go after the weaker individuals and the ones they view as "not normal." We could've told them that.
However, I'm a little concerned that the third point listed here may be construed as placing the blame on the victim themselves. What should parents be aware of, exactly? That their kid is depressed, that their kid is being bullied? It rather brings to mind how, when I was in middle school, my school district forced my parents to put me in counselling on our own dime rather than address the bullying issue themselves, so the statement doesn't entirely sit well with me.
I was a happy but shy child until I started getting bullied by the more aggressive children. This started a downward spiral of depression, which made me downtrodden and even more withdrawn, which led to more bullying, and when I reached high school and both depression and bullying got exponentially worse.
I cannot speak for anyone else, but I do remember when I was about 8 thinking I used to love going to school, playing with friends, etc until the mean kids started picking on me. It was a clear cause-effect situation.
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To me saying that bullying doesn't cause or aggravate depression is yet another copout of fully addressing the problem by making it appear less a problem than it it.
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The rest of that? Well, my response is kind of "no duh, CNN." Of course bullies will go after the weaker individuals and the ones they view as "not normal." We could've told them that.
However, I'm a little concerned that the third point listed here may be construed as placing the blame on the victim themselves. What should parents be aware of, exactly? That their kid is depressed, that their kid is being bullied? It rather brings to mind how, when I was in middle school, my school district forced my parents to put me in counselling on our own dime rather than address the bullying issue themselves, so the statement doesn't entirely sit well with me.
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I think bullying can lead to depression or at least be a start down that path.
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I cannot speak for anyone else, but I do remember when I was about 8 thinking I used to love going to school, playing with friends, etc until the mean kids started picking on me. It was a clear cause-effect situation.
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