How to Deal with Mental Illness Linked to Childhood Bullying

Childhood bullying can have a number of negative effects when it is happening and in the future. Bullying can leave victims feeling nervous, anxious, or humiliated. Victims of childhood bullying may also find themselves coping with mental illness later in life as a result of their experience. Whether you are the one coping with mental illness or whether it is someone you know, there are things you can do to deal with mental illness linked to childhood bullying. You can start to deal with it by learning about the link between childhood bullying and mental illness. You can deal with your own mental illness related to childhood bullying by seeking professional support and nurturing your mental and emotional health. You can deal with someone else’s bullying-related mental illness by providing them with support.

Method 1 - Seeking Professional Support

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→ Talk to a professional. The first step in dealing with any type of mental illness is to speak with a professional about what you are going through. If you aren’t already doing so, you should seek the help of a professional. Professionals like psychologists, psychiatrists, and therapists are trained to help people deal with mental illness. Their experience and training can help you manage your mental illness better. They can also help you see how your mental illness is linked to bullying in your childhood.

→ Call or message your healthcare provider as soon as you begin to feel that something is going on with you emotionally, even if you never talked to them about it before.

→ Call your insurance company for a referral to a mental health professional in your area.

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→ Explore your treatment options. There are a number of effective treatments for mental illnesses of all kinds. Whether you are dealing with depression, anxiety, or a combination of disorders, you can deal with mental illness related to childhood bullying if you take the time to determine which treatment will work best for you. You many need to explore a few different treatment options to find the one (or ones) that are right for you.

→ Talk to your mental health professional about treatment options. You could say, “Could we talk about my options for treating my mental illness? I’d like to try something that’ll help me get over being bullied.”

→ Consider therapy or medication as treatment options. You may also want to consider a combination of medication management and therapy.

→ Some studies have found that alternative treatments like acupuncture and meditation are useful for managing some mental illnesses.

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→ Stick to your treatment plan. Once you have created a treatment plan you need to stick with it to deal with your mental illness. The plan was established to help you deal with the mental illness linked to your childhood bullying experiences. There could be negative consequences to your mental and physical health if you alter or stop your treatment plan. Until you speak to a professional about altering it, stick to the plan that you have in place.

→ Be patient and give your treatment plan time to work. Nothing is going to make you feel better overnight or with just one dose or session. Remember that sometimes things may get worse before they get better, but you should still stick with your plan.

→ At a certain point, your therapist may recommend changing some aspects of your treatment plan. Make sure you work with them to find the best plan for you.

→ Talk to your mental health professional if you feel your treatment plan needs to change. You might say, “Can we talk about my treatment plan? I don’t think it’s working so well for me.”

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→ Join a support group. One way to deal with mental illness linked to childhood bullying is gain support and encouragement from people dealing with similar experiences. Joining a support group can provide you with encouragement and new strategies for managing your mental illness.

→ Ask your mental health professional for a reference to a support group in your community.

→ You can consider joining an online support group if meeting face-to-face is too difficult or not convenient for you.

→ Look into support groups specifically for people dealing with mental illness linked to childhood bullying.

→ Make sure the group fosters a positive and healing environment. If the group seems too negative or focuses heavily on complaining instead of getting better, you may want to find a different group.

Method 2 - Nurturing Your Mental and Emotional Health

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→ Start journaling. One way to deal with the emotions and memories you may have related to your childhood bullying is to write about it. You can also use your journal to write about how you are managing your mental illness.

→ Write in your journal on a daily basis, if possible. For instance, you might end your day by writing in your journal before you go to bed.

→ Write about what happened when you were bullied. Include how it made you feel, how you handled it, and how you think it’s affecting you now.

→ Write about good things that happen to you and things that make you happy, also. Write about your achievements, successes, and progress handling your mental illness.

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→ Stick to a routine. Having a routine in place will help you deal with mental illness linked to childhood bullying in a lot of ways. Being a victim of bullying may have caused you to change your life and stop doing things you need or want to do. Sticking to a routine will give you a sense of purpose and order while allowing you feel accomplished when you have finished your tasks. Creating a routine and following it will also help you meet your responsibilities because you’ll know what you need to do and when.

→ You don’t have to schedule out every minute of your day, but you should have certain things that you do every day and in generally the same order.

→ Think about your responsibilities and obligations that must be met and include them in your routine. For example, think about taking care of your hygiene, cooking, and cleaning.

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→ Boost your self-esteem. Lowered self-esteem can be one of the short-term and long-term consequences of childhood bullying. When you are coping with mental illness linked to childhood bullying you may feel unworthy, awkward, unattractive, or any number of things. Doing things to boost your self-esteem will help you deal with negative feelings you have about yourself as a result of the bullying.

→ First, write down your negative traits. Once you have a list of these, ask yourself if these traits are actually accurate reflections of yourself. Break down these negative beliefs, and try to understand why you believe these things about yourself.

→ Make a list of your positive traits and qualities. Post it somewhere you can see it frequently or take a picture of it and use it as the wallpaper for your electronic device.

→ Use neutral self-talk. Often mental illness can make you use self-talk that puts you down or degrades you. Instead, work on going from negative self-talk to neutral self-talk. As this becomes more natural for you, you can switch to positive self-talk.

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→ Build a support system. Relying on your friends and is an effective way to deal with mental illness, especially when it is linked to childhood bullying. They can help you get over the bullying and cope with your mental illness. Your friends and family can check on you, encourage you, advocate for you, and help you stick to your treatment plan.

→ Talk to your friends and family when you are having a hard time dealing with your mental illness. You could tell your sister, for example, “Can we talk? My anxiety is really getting to me.”

→ It’s okay to ask someone that cares about you to just come spend time with you without doing anything. Try saying, “Barbara, do you mind just hanging with me for a little while?”

→ Spend time with the people in your support system doing things that you enjoy. For instance, go to an art showing, a music performance, or just a walk in the park. This can distract you from your struggles.

Method 3 - Supporting Others with Mental Illness

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→ Encourage them. When someone else you know is dealing with mental illness because of childhood bullying, giving them encouragement is one of the best things you can do. It lets them know that you care about them, helps them recover from being bullied, and it shows that you believe they can cope with their mental illness.

→ Let them know when you see them making progress with their mental illness. For example, you might say, “I’ve noticed that you are getting out of the house more. That’s great!”

→ If they need support, try listening to them without judgment. Encourage them to come to you again if they need it.

→ Encourage them to seek or continue treatment if they aren’t currently working with a professional. You could try saying, “Have you talked with your doctor about how you are feeling?”

→ You can also tell them things like, “I know you can overcome this.” Statements like that will let them know that you believe in them.

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→ Check on them. You can support someone you care about with dealing with mental illness if you make the time to check on them on a regular basis. If the person is also a victim of childhood bullying, checking on them can also make sure that they are coping with being bullied okay.

→ Ask them how they are coping with their mental illness. You may also want to ask if there is anything you can do to help.

→ Call the person every few days or so just to catch up and see how things are going in their life.

→ You can also send a quick text or message to touch base and see if they need anything.

→ If you know the person is having an especially hard time coping with their mental illness, you should encourage them to see a mental health professional.

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→ Advocate for others. Stigma and misunderstanding surrounding mental illness can cause the person to feel the same shame, embarrassment, nervousness, and fear that the bullying caused them as a child. You can help them deal with this by advocating for them when you can.

→ When appropriate, educate people in your community about mental health in general and how they can support people with mental illness.

→ If you notice someone being mean or disrespectful then speak up and tell them to stop. You might say, “Just because he has depression doesn’t mean he deserves to be treated like that.”

Method 4 - Linking Mental Illness to Bullying

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→ Learn more about bullying. You need to understand bullying before you can link it to mental illness. Once you learn more about it, you’ll be able to see the effects bullying can have on mental health. Then you can begin to deal with mental illness related to childhood bullying.

→ Learn about the different types of bullying. Whether it is cyber bullying, physical bullying, or another type, it can have a negative effect on the victim.

→ Recognize the signs of bullying. For example, loss of sleep, withdrawing, changes in eating habits or mood, or unexplained physical problems may indicate being a victim of bullying.

→ Understand how bullying can make the victim feel. Bullying victims may feel ashamed, powerless, inadequate, tense, nervous, unfocused, tired, or physical ill.

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→ Research mental illness. There are several different disorders that are included as mental illness including: depression, anxiety, phobias, and more.You may not want or need to research them all, but you should learn more about the mental illness you or someone close to you may be dealing with. Understanding what is going on will help you link the mental illness to childhood bullying.

→ If you already know what mental illness you’re dealing with, learn as much as you can about that one. For example, if your son has been diagnosed with depression, research more about that mental disorder.

→ Use websites like Mental Help, National Institute of Mental Health, or the Centers for Disease Control to get an overview of mental illnesses including common symptoms.