10/02/2025
October is National Anti-Bullying Month, and it's a crucial time to come together to stand up, speak out, and create safe spaces for everyone, both online and offline. Every voice matters, every action counts, and every effort to stop bullying makes a difference. Let's promote kindness, empathy, and respect in our schools, workplaces, and communities.
Bullying has serious mental health impacts on those who experience it.
Persistent bullying can lead to chronic anxiety, panic attacks, or clinical depression. Victims often feel isolated, hopeless, or trapped, and constant criticism or humiliation can erode a person’s confidence and self-worth.
Victims may start to internalize negative messages and blame themselves.
Bullying can lead to social withdrawal, the fear of judgment and may lead to avoiding school, work, or social settings. This isolation can worsen mental health and make recovery harder. In severe cases, bullying can lead to self-injury or suicidal ideation.
It's important to note that LGBTQ+ youth and individuals from other marginalized communities are at a higher risk of experiencing bullying. Ongoing or severe bullying can also result in trauma responses akin to PTSD, including flashbacks, nightmares, and hypervigilance.
The impact extends to the bully as well. Research shows that individuals who bully others are more likely to experience aggression and conduct disorders, substance abuse, difficulty forming healthy relationships, and an increased risk of later mental health issues.
Bystanders witnessing bullying can also suffer, experiencing guilt or helplessness, fear of becoming the next target, and increased anxiety or stress from a hostile environment.
Bullying does not "build character"—it can destroy a person's sense of safety and self. Its effects can last well into adulthood, impacting education, career, relationships, and overall mental well-being.
What helps? Creating supportive environments at school, work, and home, counseling or therapy, peer support and kindness, and bystander intervention—speaking up and showing solidarity.