May 07 2009
The Link Between Bullying and Psychosis
There is a link between bullying and later psychotic symptoms. Children who experience physical and emotional bullying are significantly more likely to develop symptoms characteristic of serious mental illness.
Is the link a causal link? Good question. Thankfully, the title of the news release about a new study makes no overt claim. It reads: Children bullied at school at high risk of developing psychotic symptoms.
Of course, many readers of those words will conclude that “research has shown” bullying can cause serious mental health problems. While that may be true — and I believe bullying, in the least, is likely a contributing factor — the link could be of another sort. But first, the science:
Researchers at the University of Warwick found children who suffered physical or emotional bullying were twice as likely to develop psychotic symptoms by early adolescence, compared to children who are not bullied. However, if they experienced sustained bullying over a number of years that risk increases up to four times.
What might those symptoms be? Thankfully, the article about scientific research gets a bit scientific itself and shares those -
Psychotic symptoms include hallucinations, delusions such as being spied on or bizarre thoughts such as one’s thoughts are being broadcast.
So yes, they are symptoms of serious mental disorder. But does the bullying outright cause these symptoms to develop? Possibly. There is another possibility, however. Rather than bullies creating future psychotic individuals through their abusive behavior, it is possible that in choosing their targets bullies are picking up on the earliest signs of mental health problems to come. So the link is not causal but merely predictive. Being picked as the target of bullying might be little more than a sign of psychological health starting to go wrong. It is also possible that whether or not the individual is then bullied repeatedly, he or she would still go on to develop psychotic symptoms.
Of course, there are more options than just “A” causal link, or “B” predictive link. There is likely some degree of each. “A” and “B.”
[...] a post I wrote roughly two weeks ago, The Link Between Bullying and Psychosis I mentioned a new scientific finding that linked, well, you can read. I warned that because two [...]