Bullying has become a serious issue in the society we live in today. School going children, individuals at work, siblings are some of the people who experience bullying on regular occasions. Bullying in school is the most pronounced with far reaching consequences to our school going kids. There are many different forms of bullying; cyber bullying, physical bullying or verbal bullying, but in all the different forms the bullies are often driven by the same causes.
It may be true that some bullies come from dysfunctional homes or do not receive much and attention at home and feel that bullying is the only way to express their feelings but what if there are no victims to be bullied? Without victims bullying shall be cured effectively. This paper will concentrate on both the victims of bullying, bullies and a program that can potentially cure bullying.
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It is important for every parent, teacher or adult to notice the signs of a bully or of a bullied kid. Identification is important to start the curing process of a bully or bullied kid. Many researchers and professionals have proposed different methods or actions that can cure bullying but most of them have not produced any positive results. There has been concentration on the bullies and the assumption that bullies have psychological problems has not also been accurate. Consequently, Many professionals have stated that bullies lack self-confidence. This could be further from the truth, according to a professor of developmental psychology, Jaana Juvonen, in an article “Psychologist’s studies make sense of bullying,” bullies have ridiculously high self-esteem and seems to be the most popular kids in school (UCLA, May 2012).
She states that most bullies in schools are very popular and self-esteem issues are not one of the problems they face. Jaana Juvonen continues to explain that a research study carried out on 4th and 5th graders found no cases of bullying yet as the kids transition to 6th 7th and 8th grade the cases increase exponentially. She explains that this may be so because of turbulence in the transition process from elementary school to middle school (UCLA, May 2012).
The pressure of having to handle a much bigger number of students, walking to different lessons in different classes and meeting different students and teachers in those classes might be the main cause of increased numbers of bullying. Not knowing how to handle it, the kids get into their primal behavior and dominance is the only way out. The students build social hierarchy where the students perceived to be the most superior are put or put themselves in charge. These leaders are always the bullies, feeling powerful and ready to make others know their power and importance.
Bullying is described as the consistent use of one’s superiority to harm or undermine others because of their perceived weaknesses (Due, Damsgaard, Lund, & Holstein, 2009). Bullying occur in almost any age group but the devastating effects are felt in school going kids. The self-esteem of an individual can dramatically be reduced because of bullying. Bullying can also lead to depression, substance abuse and in extreme cases suicide. Of all the forms of bullying, cyber bullying has become very popular and most devastating because the victim is potentially connected to the bully through the internet 24 hours a day.
In the current school and state systems, 49 out of 50 states have passed legislation that is meant to curb bullying while many schools those states have or are implementing anti-bullying programs targeting bullies telling them to stop. These programs have not had any positive effects on the reducing or eliminating bullying. In fact, a study done by University of Texas, stated that students in schools implementing the anti-bullying programs are more likely to bully than those in schools without any anti-bullying programs (Trowbridge October 10, 2013).
The study has given more than enough leverage to change tact and focus on both the bullies and the victims of bullying. The constant focus on bullies gives them more attention and power while attention should shift to equipping school going kids with skills to deal with social pressures and build inner strength. The best way to achieve this is by mindfulness training. Mindfulness training teaches children how to build character, regulate their emotions and perform better in school.
“Mindfulness is the clear and single-minded awareness of what actually happens to us and in us, at successive moments of perception.” (Nyanaponika Thera, 1992). Nyanaponika Thera (1992) continues to describe mindfulness as the acceptance of one’s past experiences without pushing them away or pursuing them in a clear calm mind. Mindfulness has been used for many years to treat many psychological illnesses raging from borderline personality disorder, alcohol and drug use disorders (Hayes, Strosahl, & Wilson, 1999), and depression but has not been widely adopted in the schools to curb the spread of bullying.
The mindfulness program will greatly help the victims and would be victims of bullying. Anxiety, depression and in extreme case suicide are some of the effects of bullying. Mindfulness programs can rival anti-depressants as a management tool against depression (Nocero & Beckerman, 2014). One of the symptoms of depression is constant negative thinking.
Ultimately, mindfulness thinking involves learning to notice negative thinking, replace them with positive ones and practice not to get attached to the negative thoughts. Replacing these negative thoughts will help create a more objective perspective of things hence help fight depression. Extreme negative thinking can lead to suicide. Learning to curb this vice at its infancy can save lives. Mindfulness also involves the teaching of mindfulness breathing. Mindful breathing is known to prevent amygdala from overworking. Amygdala is the part of the brain that is responsible for anxiety. Therefore, mindfulness breathing can help reduce the symptoms of anxiety and make an individual feel more relaxed (Singh et al., 2007)
When all these practices are learnt it ultimately increases an individual’s self-confidence. Positive thoughts and relaxed individuals have high self-esteem. Individuals that are often bullied lack self-esteem or self-confidence. The victims of bullying mostly cannot stand up for themselves because they think they are inferior to the bullies. Building an individual’s self-confidence will give him or her the ability to say no (Nocero & Beckerman, 2014).
Sign et al. (2007) carried out a research on mindfulness training on adolescents with aggressive behavior. The research was carried out with seven aggressive adolescent kids who were almost being expelled from school. The results of the experiment was that when adolescents chose to make a difference they have the ability to self-regulate their behaviors in specific environments
Currently in the US, very few schools have integrated mindfulness programs into their school systems. While anti-bullying campaigns widely adopted by schools in the U.S concentrate on bullies, mindfulness programs apply to all students in school. The main aim of this program is to build character (Nocero & Beckerman, 2014). Furthermore, some of the reasons bullies bully is because of their past experiences as victims of bullying, fear of being different or coming from a dysfunctional home. This in turn means, that mindfulness program will help bullies with their past experiences and help them realize their frustrations, manage them and, subsequently, not pass it on by bullying others (Nocero & Beckerman, 2014).
Bullies lack empathy, they attack what appears as weakness and they do not feel bad about themselves. These three characteristics make the anti-bullying programs aimed at persuading bullies to stop very ineffective but mindfulness will make them learn that they do not need to seek for others approval or respect by bullying others. Mindfulness will also help bullies detach from past painful experiences and cope with new challenges in life (Nocero & Beckerman, 2014).
Mindfulness programs have also been known to develop empathy. The lack of empathy can be contributed to most of the cases of bullying in schools. When students are put through programs where they develop empathy towards others, they learn to place themselves in the other’s situation. Empathetic people are also are likely to stand for victims of bullying hence reduce bullying (Nocero & Beckerman, 2014).
Conclusion
At the moment efforts aimed at stopping bullying in the American schools has not borne any fruits. The current programs suggest that there is no cure for bullying. The stake holders need to change tact and think of something better than targeting the bullies. Mindfulness training comes as complete package, not only help and prevents bullying but also help a bullied individual on how to deal with the experience. Research carried out on the effectiveness of mindfulness training posits that indeed mindfulness reduces aggressive behavior among adolescents.
The society must also stop perceiving bullies as evil without understanding their situation. As much as the act of bullying is wrong victimizing bullies increases their aggressive behavior. More should be done to address the root cause of bullying and mindfulness training in schools is the best way to start
References
Due, P., Damsgaard, M. T., Lund, R., & Holstein, B. E. (2009). Is bullying equally harmful for rich and poor children?: a study of bullying and depression from age 15 to 27 . The European Journal of Public Health, 19(5), 464-469.
Hayes, S. C., Strosahl, K. D., & Wilson, K. G. (1999). Acceptance and commitment therapy: An experimental approach to behavior change. New York: Guilford Press
Nocero, J., & Beckerman, L. (2014). Breaking the culture of silence . The Education Digest, 79(8), 60.
Nyanaponika Thera. (1992). The heart of Buddhist meditation . Kandy, Sri Lanka: Buddhist Publication Society
Singh, N. N., Lancioni, G. E., Singh Joy, S. D., Winton, A. S., Sabaawi, M., Wahler, R. G., & Singh, J. (2007). Adolescents with conduct disorder can be mindful of their aggressive behavior . Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, 15(1), 56-63.
Trowbridge .A. (October 10, 2013). Are anti-bullying efforts making it worse? CBS News. Retrieved from; https://www.cbsnews.com/news/are-anti-bullying-efforts-making-it-worse/
UCLA (May 3, 2012). Psychologist’s studies make sense of bullying . Retrieved from http://newsroom.ucla.edu/stories/bullying-jaana-juvonen-233108
