Currently, the concept of bullying is used to refer to any act of bullying and harassment produced in educational environments. It is usually carried out by a main aggressor, supported by a larger or smaller group of students who reinforce his attacks. It occurs on a victim or, similarly, a small group of victims on whom all types of physical, psychological, verbal, social abuse, etc., are repeatedly carried out.
In this Psychology-Online article we will talk about what is the Physical bullying, consequences and how to prevent it. Discover what causes this type of bullying and what to do to prevent this type of harassment that today constitutes a great scourge for our society.
What is physical bullying
Physical bullying refers to any type of physical aggression carried out by one or more people on another individual. This type of bullying includes all types of hits, beatings, kicks and any act that involves physical abuse of the victim’s body.
The main characteristics of physical bullying are the following:
- It is a physical contact that violates the victim, like a push, slap, slapetc.
- It is done in such a way that the victim cannot defend himself, e.g. when she is aloneis tied up, etc.)
- They are blows of great intensity and repeated, that is, hitting the victim repeatedly, for example, when he goes to the bathroom or when he goes home.
- He aggressor acts in an aggressive, intimidating and violent mannerThat is, he uses his entire body to hit, threaten and scare the victim. An example of intimidating physical behavior can be when someone places themselves above another or corners them.
- The victim feels physically and psychologically cornered and is unable to react or ask for help.
- The attacks carried out on the victim never have any justified reason.
Causes of physical bullying
The causes that cause physical bullying, and bullying in general, although they are very varied and should be analyzed in a particular way in each case, they do allow us to glimpse predetermining factors that increase the probability of this type of bullying. Next, we see what causes physical bullying:
- The aggressor is usually a person with a high level of aggressiveness and high degrees of maladjustment and antisocial behavior.
- Are manipulative people who make use of this mechanism of aggression and abuse as a way to calm their inner restlessness
- They are people with childhood injuries who resolve the pain and accumulated resentment by becoming aggressors themselves. In this article you will see.
- The Victims are usually weak people on a psychological and emotional level.and even physical, that is, with certain insecurities and emotional wounds, as occurs with the aggressor, which predisposes them to be victims of abuse.
- On many occasions, the victims They may be people who, without presenting any type of childhood trauma, behave in innocent and kind way, not very ironic and who do not see the second intentions coming. That makes them easy victims of school bullies.
Consequences of physical bullying
In reality, the consequences of physical bullying are practically the same as those that any other type of bullying can cause. Attacks severely hit the psychological balance of the person who suffers the abuse. To be more specific, the consequences of physical bullying can be the following:
- All kinds of wounds and physical injuries of greater or lesser severity
- The victim’s body contracts and shrinks as a reaction mechanism to the panic experienced during the attack, and to the fear of possible future abuse.
- The victim may begin to act with the apprehended helplessness syndromebelieving that none of this situation is in their hands.
- While this aggressive behavior is not reported or detected, the aggressor grows in his belief that the use of violence allows him to have power over others.
- Likewise, those who encourage and silence this fact strengthen the violent ego of the aggressor.
- He psycho-emotional balance of the victim hangs by a thread, to such a point that it can lead to suicide. To prevent this situation, we recommend you read this article about .
How to prevent physical bullying
Given the high percentage of violence and abuse that occurs in school environments, to prevent physical bullying, or of any type, the social awareness campaigns They have become a resource of vital importance for our current societies. These focus on the prevention and intervention of bullying episodes.
Actions to prevent bullying
Some of the specific bullying prevention strategies are the following:
- Teach in values above any education of subjects and contents. Unfortunately, although there is very good intention on the part of a large part of the teaching community, higher educational entities continue to prioritize content learning. For now, we will be content with the very well-intentioned interventions and varied and transversal activities that are carried out with the ultimate intention of educating in values.
- Inform parents, teachers and students about the dangerous potential of new technologies, where there are cases of increase and normalization of aggression and violence, use of social networks as a means of harassment and abuse, multiple behavioral disorders and addictions that lead to greater aggressiveness and impulsivity, and how its use is contributing to the exponential increase in cases of .
- Set clear boundaries about what can and cannot be done with respect to oneself and others. It is necessary that the educational environment be reinforced with the family environment so that, jointly, it is educated in values and fostered respect among children. It is important to teach parents that everything can improve if they foster a good relationship with their children.
Actions to intervene bullying
Once the main intervention strategies for physical bullying have been detected, the following actions should be carried out:
- Communicate to the respective families what happened and the center’s intention to implement an intervention program to alleviate the negative effects of the aggression as soon as possible. Request your direct participation.
- Start therapeutic work with the victim to help you regain your psycho-emotional balance, along with a personal protection program to avoid any future aggression.
- Likewise, undertake psychosocial work with the aggressor and, if necessary, with his family.
- Identify the group that encouraged the attacks and incorporate them into psychoeducational work against bullying.
The use of these and other prevention and intervention strategies will help change the situation from its origin so that the precipitating factors of abuse situations do not occur again.
This article is merely informative, at Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
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