Late Consequences Mobbing victims suffer for a lifetime

Many people who have already had bullying experiences are drawn with it for a lifetime. According to a recent study, about 30 percent of sufferers in the further course suffer from depression. According to the researchers, the disease is "a long-term consequence of slander, threats and humiliation."

Serious illnesses as a result
"Young victims of bullying continue to suffer from social humiliation years later," according to a British study. The scientists in the journal "The BMJ Journal" say that "every third young British adult suffering from depression was bullied as a child".

Depression is often the result of bullying. (Image: bramgino / fotolia)

For the study, the researchers evaluated a large study that was undertaken in the city of Bristol in the 1990s. People in the city, where about 14,500 people live, have been continuously questioned about their health. Among the participants were also around 4000 young people between the ages of 13 and 18 years. These researchers took a closer look at the topic of depression.

Severe depression as a result of bullying attacks
683 young respondents reported bullying at least once a week. 15 percent of those affected suffered depression at the age of 18. It was shown in the further analysis that the proportion was about three times as high as in children who did not suffer from bullying.

As bullying victims were defined adolescents who were socially excluded from peers, continuously robbed, blackmailed, threatened, defamed or beaten. If other factors such as behavioral problems or family problems were added, the context between bullying and depression was still present, but less pronounced with a double accumulation.

30 percent of adult depression patients were bullied during childhood
According to the experts' reports, about 30 percent of depression diagnosed today in adults can be caused by bad childhood bullying experiences. The researchers therefore recommend "intervene early in childhood". Because the "could help reduce the burden of depression later in life," the authors write in the study.

In this context, physicians published in 2013 a study in the US journal "Psychological Science". There, the study authors report that bullying at school can lead to serious illnesses, unemployment and reduced social contacts later in life. For the research work, the psychologists examined the life experiences of a good 1420 people. In the first step, the subjects were interviewed between the ages of 9 and 16 years and then again between the ages of 24 and 26 years. It turned out that the subjects who were bullied in their childhood had a much higher risk of suffering from a mental illness. The result was six times higher than in the comparison subjects.

30 percent of young people in Germany with bullying experiences
Similar findings exist for Germany. According to the German Society for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy (DGKJP), about 30 percent of children and adolescents are confronted with bullying during their school career. For some of those affected, the burden is so heavy that they suffer from a mental disorder.

According to a recent study by the Techniker Krankenkasse (TK), every third adolescent has been the victim of cyberbullying. While children used to be teased on the playground or in the classroom in earlier times, bullying attacks are now more and more virtual on the internet. The victims can hardly resist because of the prevailing anonymity of the internet.

First and foremost, bullying on the Internet, according to the study threats and insults are expressed against the victims. 18 percent of the surveyed adolescents stated this. Another field is the "bad slander" in more than 13 percent of the cases. Eight percent even said that somebody has ever used their identity and three percent of the children said that e-mails or photos had been passed on to third parties in an unauthorized manner.

The acting students are mostly unaware of the significance of their act. Many adolescents say "it's just fun," says Gritli Bertram, a social worker from Hanover. Such a procedure is criminally relevant. (Sb)