9781422288290

Of course, that’s not true. That’s only what the bully is telling you. She wants you to believe it and feel bad. And pretty soon, you may start to believe it. You find it hard to hear all those things and still feel like you’re a good person. Young people who are bullied often feel like they’re not normal. They feel as though no one likes them and that they’re worthless. They don’t have much self-confidence, which is the belief that you have the ability to do many things well and are a good person. Without self-confidence, people find lots of things are hard. Making friends is hard. Stand- ing up in front of class and giving a report or presentation is hard. Standing up to bullies is even harder. Lack of self-confidence is like a big circle. A bully makes fun of you and makes you feel no one likes you. Then you start believing no one likes you. You start acting like it, and stop talking to people. As a result, you have fewer friends. What the bully said in the first place now seems true, because you don’t have many friends. And the bully keeps making fun of you. Even in the best of times, young people often have trouble with self-confidence. But bullies make having self-confidence even more difficult. DEPRESSION Depression is an intense, long-term feeling of sadness. Everyone feels sad from time to time. Sad- ness and feeling bad sometimes is part of a normal life. But when you feel sad all the time and don’t ever feel like doing anything, that’s depression. You might have trouble sleeping and eating, feel sick all the time, and stop caring about things you normally care about. Depression is an illness. You wouldn’t blame someone with allergies, diabetes , or asthma for being sick. And it’s the same for someone with depression. It isn’t the person with depression’s fault he is ill. One thing that can lead to depression is bullying. Constantly worrying about bullying and feel- ing worthless can make people really sad. And that sadness can lead to depression. Depression gets in the way of life. People with depression may have a hard time doing school- work. They might find it hard to eat healthy and exercise. Making and keeping friends is hard. Like other illnesses, depression can be treated. Medicine, therapy , and a combination of both can help people who are depressed can get better. But sadly, bullies can stand in the way. VIOLENCE Young people who are physically bullied can get really hurt. No one should ever punch, kick, or hurt you in any way at school—or anywhere else. But bullies don’t play by the rules. Physical bullies use violence to let out feelings. They don’t know how to interact with other people in a healthy way. Bullied people might end up becoming violent themselves. All that anger and sadness builds in them. Eventually it bursts out in violence. They might become bullies themselves. As we learned before, many young people who are physically abused at home end up becoming bullies and hurt- ing other people.

What Makes Bullying Dangerous?

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