Bullying Leads to Depression and Suicide

This article discusses the link between depression and bullying, specifically how bullying among teenagers leads to depression and suicide. It identifies the mode of practice to be applied to the given scenario, theoretical ideas, main issues to work on, motivation, resources available and required for future interventions, strengths and potential barriers to wellbeing, challenges and opportunities to resolving the problems, and possible future directions for the work.

Running head: HEALTH
Bullying Leads to Depression and Suicide
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Profile of the main characters..........................................................................................................2
The report.........................................................................................................................................2
Identification of the mode of the practice to be applied to the given scenario................................3
Theoretical ideas..............................................................................................................................3
Main issues to work on....................................................................................................................4
Motivation........................................................................................................................................5
Resources available and required for future interventions..............................................................5
Strengths and the potential barriers to wellbeing............................................................................6
Challenges and the opportunities to resolving the problems...........................................................6
Possible future directions for the work............................................................................................6
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................7
Reference.........................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction
Depression and bullying are all related and it is often seen that bullying affects both the
victim and the one that is bullying. Depression has a wide variety of serious effects on a person's
life. The link between depression and bullying has different other problems like physical illness,
high rates of absence from school, anxiety and low self-esteem (Espelage & Holt, 2013). The
case considered for the study stats that bullying among the teenagers leads to depression which
later results in committing suicide. Reporter Patrick Abboud has made a special investigation on
a 12-year-old girl and her experiences of bullying.
Profile of the main characters
The vital or the main characters in the study are Tayla who is the victim of bullying in her
school. The next character that is mentioned in the report is the Principal of Essendon Keilor
College Heather Hawkins. New South Wales mother Melinda Tolhurst is also mentioned in the
report (NewsComAu, 2018).
The report
The report talks about a 12-year-old girl who is a victim of bullying. Tayla has been a major
victim of bullying in her school and she has experienced bullying in such a way that she went a
depression and wanted to commit suicide in order to end to end the misery. Tayla’s mother asked
for help from the school authorities several times but still, Tayla experienced bullying in school
(NewsComAu, 2018).

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Identification of the mode of the practice to be applied to the given scenario
There are different types of bullying like the relational bullying, cyberbullying, verbal
bullying and physical bullying. However, considering the case of Tayla, it can be concluded that
Tayla has been a victim of verbal and relational bullying.
In verbal bullying, the bullying is not necessarily being harmful or physical. In this type of
bullying, the children that are teased are often called by names that lead to serious effects. Verbal
bullying is a kind of threat that subjects a child to obscene word or gestures. It is, however,
important to note that some children think bullying as normal and some of the adults do not take
bullying seriously. The social workers must intervene and educate the adults, parents, and the
school officials. They must be educated regarding the fact that verbal bullying is detrimental to
the wellbeing of the child. A social worker can help both the adults and the children about the
ways of recognising the verbal bullying and also establish a clear consequence for the serious
offenders (Siyahhan, Aricak & Cayirdag-Acar, 2012).
Relational bullying, on the other hand, is a less obvious method of bullying. It can be
considered as a passive in nature. Social workers can teachers, parents and the children about
how to recognise the relational bullying. This can also be helpful in educating the bystanders so
that they can respond to the bullying assertively. The social workers can also educate the adults
so that they can actively support the victim depending on the seriousness of the situation (Wang
& Iannotti, 2012).
Theoretical ideas
Critical social work theory can be referred to the theory and the practice that assumes the
social structures, cultural and economic structures act as a privilege for some people while

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neglecting others. The social work theory explicitly deals with providing the social work service
for the people that are underprivileged and the social work service is based on the structures and
the positions. The critical theory states that there is a relationship between freedom and the
responsibility of the social worker to frame culture. Critical social work theory deals with the
social injustices rather than focusing on an individual and the social problems that arise from the
various forms of the injustice in the globalised world and also from the different forms of
oppression. This theory is similar to the other social work theories (Healy, 2014).
Systems theory- This theory states that behaviours are influenced by a variety of factors
and factors that work together as a system. How a person acts and thinks is influenced by that
person's home environment, economic class, school, friends, parents. When a person seeks help,
such person can be corrected by correcting the missing parts of the system. In a social theory, a
social worker analyses and observes the system that contributes to the individual's welfare and
behaviour and all these work for strengthening the system. Social work also takes the form of a
role model when providing the therapy and supportive systems for the individual (Payne, 2015).
Main issues to work on
The different kinds of issues that are needed to work on while addressing bullying among
the school children are as follows:
 Bullying is often confused with conflict or violence, aggression, harassment and
schools explicitly need to be clear about the definition and how they sort the
behaviour and the exact language they use for the treatment.
 One of the major issue is that now bullying is now considered as human rights
movement and it a part of the school’s duty to care towards the staffs and the

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student and now it has become a moral imperative of the schools to address the
issues of bullying and keep the children safe (Kolstrein & Jofré, 2013).
 It is important to note that once bullying is developed in school, then there is a big
chance that the students that are coming in contact with the each other constantly
become an easy target. The schools that do not resolve issues of bullying, there is
a chance of road rage, hate crimes, workplace violence, child abuse, domestic
violence (Young & Loring, 2013).
Motivation
The motivation is a major part of enthusing children so that they can overcome the major
issues of bullying. Bullying not only affects a child mentally and physically but also affects them
morally. Children that are the constant victim of bullying often resort to suicide in order to
relieve themselves from everyday abuse from the other school goers. Emotionally a bullied
victim always faces problems and thus they need to be consoled and motivated in order to bring
back into normal life regime. When depression grips in such bullied children often commit
suicide. Thus, motivation is the only viable way. The bullied child can be told that do not live by
what others think about you, rather have your own rules of living and stick to them. It is always
best to consider that everyone around is human and they are bound to make mistakes. The victim
can always be directed that they need to be patient and before taking any wrong step, it is always
advisable to take help from the parents (Shultz, Heilman & Hart, 2014).
Resources available and required for future interventions
For the purpose of intervention, it is always best to consider what are the resources that
will be required and what are the resources that are available. The different types of the resources
that will be required are the training materials, toolkits, facts. The other vital resources that will

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be required include the non-federal and the federal training materials, articles and the evidence-
based program directories (Stopbullying.gov, 2018).
Strengths and the potential barriers to wellbeing
Strengths- the child returns to the normal life and tries to live fullest. Children that often
used to stay isolated and solitary now tries to socialise with the friends and families. Previously
the bullied child used to complain about going to school but now after the proper intervention
regularly attends the school (Bibou-Nakou & Markos, 2013).
Barriers- the major barrier is the flashbacks of the past moments experienced by the child after
he or she tries to recover from the bullying experiences (Wolke & Lereya, 2015).
Challenges and the opportunities to resolving the problems
Challenges- Schools often include a wide variety of the anti-bullying programs. However, it is
important to mention that this requires a persistent approach and can never be considered as a
complete approach (Thompson & Smith, 2012).
Opportunities- Children that once were depressed and suicidal can now lead a normal life
and can go to school and be attentive in their studies as well.
Possible future directions for the work
Prevention of bullying is one of the major societal issues and is a huge responsibility
upon the social workers. The situation is fragile considering the fact that the victim often takes
fatal steps that are detrimental both to the family and the individual. Thus, it is important to
incorporate an integrative approach to social work that will target the root causes of bullying.
Bullying tendencies are harmful both to the bullied and the one who is bullying. Thus, strategies

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can be developed that includes parents, adults, schools and the children for the effective
dissemination of the anti-bullying education (Borgwald & Theixos, 2013).
Conclusion
From the above study, it can be concluded that the bullying is detrimental to the
development of a child's mind as well as physical development. It is, however, important to note
that there is a large number of the unsolved that are being faced by the social workers. A social
worker tends to play a big role both in individualistic intervention and dissemination of anti-
bullying education imparted to the parents, schools and the adults.

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Reference
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experiencing bullying: Frequency, type of bullying and psychosocial difficulties. School
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Borgwald, K., & Theixos, H. (2013). Bullying the bully: Why zero-tolerance policies get a
failing grade. Social Influence, 8(2-3), 149-160.
Espelage, D. L., & Holt, M. K. (2013). Suicidal ideation and school bullying experiences after
controlling for depression and delinquency. Journal of Adolescent Health, 53(1), S27-
S31.
Healy, K. (2014). Social work theories in context: Creating frameworks for practice. Palgrave
Macmillan.
Kolstrein, A. M., & Jofré, M. I. T. (2013). Bullying: an analysis from the perspective of human
rights, target groups and interventions. The International Journal of Children's Rights,
21(1), 46-58.
NewsComAu. (2018). No one should utter these words. Retrieved from
https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/school-life/bullying-of-teenagers-leads-to-
depression-suicide-sbs-reporter-patrick-abboud-special-investigation/news-story/
0ea44495dd4e9abd7fd39371b82c877b
Payne, M. (2015). Modern social work theory. Oxford University Press.

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Shultz, E., Heilman, R., & Hart, K. J. (2014). Cyber-bullying: An exploration of bystander
behavior and motivation. Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on
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Siyahhan, S., Aricak, O. T., & Cayirdag-Acar, N. (2012). The relation between bullying,
victimization, and adolescents' level of hopelessness. Journal of adolescence, 35(4),
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Stopbullying.gov. (2018). Resources | StopBullying.gov. Retrieved from
https://www.stopbullying.gov/resources
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Wang, J., & Iannotti, R. J. (2012). Bullying among US adolescents. The Prevention Researcher,
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Wolke, D., & Lereya, S. T. (2015). Long-term effects of bullying. Archives of disease in
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Young, C., & Loring, M. T. (2013). Bullying behavior: Current issues, research, and
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