Although we live in the 21st century, many people still do not put anti-bullying into their hearts. Thousands and millions of people are out there crying for help due to being submerged in the darkness. Despite evidence that bullying has an enormous effect on mental health, many people take bullying so lightly. Many types of bullying exist, such as social, cyber, verbal, etc. But the main discussion here will involve verbal bullying and its effect on mental health, especially in teens.
Verbal bullying is mental abuse involving oral or written language directed at a victim. Most of the verbal bullying faced by teens is related to their physical appearance and the evaluation of school grades.
I was one of the victims of verbal bullying, so I'm able to relate to this issue profoundly and I'm intensely unsatisfied with people's lack of awareness of all sorts of bullying. Whenever people seek help from bullying, all I hear is, "It's your fault you get bullied as you are not strong enough to fight them off," or "toughen up, don't be such a whiny baby". But do people understand the story behind the person who gets bullied?
We, as human beings, should be careful with our words and lend a hand to the people who seek help. We must know that a single word we say will significantly impact others, as everyone's tolerance for comments is different. The words you have spoken to them might seem nothing to you, but for the others, you might touch the scars hidden within them.
Many of the bullying victims later suffered from mental illnesses such as severe depression, anxiety, anorexia, and so on. However, at the same time when the victims ask for help, in the end, they face ignorance from society. I am aware there are a lot of services given by private organizations as well as government initiatives, but the fact that the people in the community offered a negative impression to the victims makes them lack confidence and motivation to reach for the tools.
Therefore, I would like to call upon the community to end the stigma and educate themselves more on the mental health effects of bullying, so that the victims can get the help they ask for and save them from drowning in the darkness. Furthermore, we should treat each other like family and lend a hand to people facing hardships. As humans, it has always been our job to love and nurture each other to create a better world.
