How To Overcome Childhood Bullying With Help From A Psychologist

It is normal for children to have disagreements, but bullying is different. Bullying is when someone uses aggressive behavior. It can take on the form of words, physical contact and other subtle actions. A bully intentionally and repeatedly causes harm and discomfort to another person. In 2007, nearly a third of students between the ages of 12 to 18 years old were bullied almost daily.

The person being bullied usually does not cause the bullying and cannot defend against the attack. Unfortunately, the effects of this behavior are not temporary, but can last into adulthood. Read on to find out how to overcome childhood bullying with help from a psychologist.

Work On Self-Esteem

Childhood bullying can cause your self-esteem to become severely damaged. One of the ways to overcome this damage is by going through psychotherapy. Self-esteem is hard to build, which helps to go through goal driven therapy. For example, you set goals during counseling and take steps to complete them. Accomplishing your goals build self-esteem.

Your counselor helps you to focus on your needs. He or she will work with you to monitor negative self-beliefs, assumptions and compromising thoughts. Negative thought processes can keep you feeling trapped.

Take An Unbiased Look At Your Personal History

Going through counseling allows you to take an unbiased look at your background. Focusing on childhood bullying can keep you living in the past. However, you have to look back on your personal history with an unbiased view. Some people tend to blame themselves, which makes it hard to focus on the present. This approach also allows you to look at early patterns and see if this behavior is present in your current relationships. You must change the negative behavior into positive behavior.

Surround Yourself With Positive People

When someone is constantly beat down, this person starts to feel worthless. This leads to becoming hopeless. If you have no self-worth, then you will allow people to use you. For these reasons, you need to surround yourself with positive people.

Counseling provides you with one level of support. Your counselor will talk to you about building a positive support system. Trying to recover from bullying is a long process. You do not need someone around you who is trying to bring you down. Negative people can hinder your progress.

To move forward, you have to let go of the past. This step is something that you cannot do alone. For more information, contact a professional such as Elizabeth Mehlman, Ph.D., J.D.


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