The Effects of Bullying on the Brain

By Kristofer Plante

November 30, 2017

Mr. Zemanek, English 142-03

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 The Effects of Bullying on the Brain

Research shows that bullying has a direct impact on the brain causing many different

disorders including depression. Bullying has many different effects on the brain, all in different

areas, including the increased risks of depression, as well as anxiety. Bullying can cause

increased stress to the victim and in turn produce an outcome of low self-esteem.The abuse of

drugs is prevalent in bullied students and or people showing a direct correlation of bullying and

the use of drugs. Physical changes such as abnormal gene activity can occur in the brain due to

bullying. Yet, some people give multiple pieces of evidence that bullying has no direct impact on

the brain and is just shown when the bullied individual lets the harrasment get to them.

To start things off, studies show that people who are bullied on a day to day basis have an

altered levels of stress hormones in the brain. Data connects an altered levels of stress hormones

to the abuse of drugs. Scientists that have conducted studies on the human brain were able to

directly connect the same types of stress hormones that increase the use of drugs to the different

levels of hormones released while being bullied. The hormones that are released linger in the

brain even after the bullying has ended resulting in the use of drugs. “He also saw that too much

of the hormone can remain in these brain areas long after the stress has ended, possibly leading

to a propensity to abuse drugs.” These studies were conducted on animals to determine the

chemical effect that bullying has on the brain and yielded the information of increased stress

hormones. The studies showed that animals that were given access to drugs such as cocaine and

alcohol took more of both of them over the opposing animals that were not bullied, even months

after the bullying had ended and they were considered adults. Specific data from the conducted

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experiment showed that in order to cause a long term effect, only four, five minute long episodes

of social stress were needed to have a negative outcome.

Next up, large amounts of stress are experienced by people while and after they are

bullied. Stress has multiple negative impacts on the human body such as migraines, fatigue, and

sleeping problems. One of the major effects of high stress on the body is the less effective

immune system . Many different negative outcomes can come of stress on the immune system

and digestive system. For example, having large amounts of stress causes the formation of

gastric ulcers or peptic ulcers in the lining of the stomach. Gastric ulcers affect the stomach itself

and cause severe pains to anybody who obtains one and Peptic ulcers affect the small intestine as

well as the stomach. The minor effects of these two different kinds of ulcers are burning stomach

pain, feeling of fullness, heartburn, and nausea. The major, less common effects of ulcers are

vomiting, dark blood in stools, trouble breathing, weight loss, or appetite changes. Another

dangerous effect of stress is that stress slows the immune system and makes it less capable to

fight off antigens resulting in a higher chance for infections. The cause for the slowed immune

system is the stress hormone, named corticosteroid, suppresses the effectiveness of the immune

system. Due to the immune system being slowed, it opens a gate for many new viruses and

illnesses to infect your body leading to a multitude of different effects. Depending on the severity

of the illness, you can experience many different negative effects to your body including death if

not treated properly.

To continue, bullying at a young age can leave a long lasting impact on people that witness

the bullying. Children at a younger age are much more impressionable than older teenagers. This

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leads to conditioning of other people that bullying is good and creates a stronger neural net in

favor of bullying. This means that someone at a young age that witnessed someone being bullied

may bully someone else due to the fact that they've already witnessed it and understand how to

do it. In a public setting, people are very susceptible to follow in the footsteps of someone in

power. A bully bullies others to feel above others and generally more powerful than everybody

else, and due to this it leads for other people to want to feel above others leading to increased

bullying. The effects of bullying on a younger crowd are very negative. Bullying at a young age

can cause many different mental illnesses much quicker due to the brains lack of development.

Depression and anxiety are very prevalent among younger children making bullying dangerous

at this level. This impressionable nature lasts all the way through secondary schooling until the

age of 20 leaving a large area of time to create a positive image of bullying for students. Even

after the age of 20 bullying can still cause a major negative effect no matter what age you

experience it.

The way schools handle bullying situations does not stop the problem. Students that bully

others do not get the proper consequence and instead the school uses negative reinforcement on

the student. Negative reinforcement is used by schools to punish students by giving them an ISS

(In School Suspension). This is considered negative reinforcement due to it reinforcing bad

behavior. This occurs because when a student misbehaves they are taken out of class and put in a

room out of class so they do not have to attend it. The punishment does not give the student a

reason not to do it again and so the bad behavior continues. Detentions given by schools are

useless due to the use of phones in them, leaving no lasting impact on the student to change their

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 behavior. For example, if a student acts out to get out of class, they are held in a detention

block either the same day or the next just to miss another period of class and further their

disruption to do it again. Due to them having a way to get out of class it will condition them to

do it again and again. Students should be held accountable for their actions and should be

properly punished by the school in order to end the negative behavior. Bullying happens more

often than someone would think. This statistic shows the immense population of students that

have been bullied. “More than 3.2 million students report being bullied each year.” (Kelly). This

shows a major number of students that get bullied yearly. Another statistic from this website

shows another troubling number. “90% of 4th through 8th graders report they have been bullied”

(Kelly). These two statistics show a major problem with bullying in our schools with 90% of

students between the grades of 4 to 8 being bullied in that time span. Bullying affects students at

a young age due to their brains being more malleable and susceptible to negative changes and

personality shifts. Children at a younger age are learning faster than they ever will so when

shown things such as bullying they start to learn them and thinking that it is acceptable to do to

other people.

To add onto, people that have experienced large amounts of bullying from other students

are subject to mass amounts of stress and anger leading these people to rash decisions such as

shootings that have happened in the past. For example, Columbine High School students walked

into the cafeteria in their school and opened fire upon the other students. This one incident has

sparked many debates now from gun control to the effects of bullying on a high school students

mind. This is only one shooting out of the numerous other incidents around the United States. A

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major threat to our students is the terrible thought of a mass shooting inside of the building, so a

reduce of bullying may cause a reduce in students that will lash out and commit horrible acts due

to the stress of bullying on the brain. This clearly shows that bullying has a major negative effect

on students and needs to be changed.

The first step we should take to approach a bully free environment for our students is to

create a better program to combat bullying with punishments for the students that are caught and

or reported. Schools should also implement a secure anonymous submission page for people that

they are experiencing bullying from. Second, there needs to be more awareness for the impacts

of bullying. From the mental effects that students experience to the emotional stress added to a

student once they endure bullying from another student. There are many different ways we can

combat bullying to reduce the amount students that are bullied but bullying will never

completely end. Schools can take more time to create better systems to bring the people that do

bully others to light. Educating students on being able to talk to someone about what is going on

is one of the biggest pieces of information that a student should understand. Telling someone

such as a teacher or a parent about something going on is one of the best things to do in that kind

of situation. Teachers can sort many different bullying situations out and come to a positive

resolution.

In conclusion, bullying is a terrible thing that plagues our schools. Bullying can cause

many different mental disorders such as depression and anxiety. These different disorders that

are caused by bullying cost a terrible toll on all students and needs to end. Bullying has a major

effect on a students mental state and can cause temporary or long term negative effects to

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 students who suffer it. Other students can learn from bullies and carry out their bullying

tactics at a young age but with a plan to expand and improve the punishment system on students

that are bullying, it will quickly change the outcome of students behavior after punishment for

bullying other students. Overall bullying causes several different types of conditions leading to

an unpleasant experience.

Works Cited
Bullying and the Brain.www.brainfacts.org/thinking-sensing-and-behaving/childhood-and-

adolescence/2015/bullying-and-the-brain.

Kelly, Millicent. “Bullying & School Shootings: Statistics & Facts.” Study.com, Study.com,

study.com/academy/lesson/bullying-school-shootings-statistics-facts.html.

“Peptic Ulcer.” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 12 Aug.

2017, www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/peptic-ulcer/symptoms-causes/syc-20354223.

2010, Saul McLeod published. “Stress, Illness and the Immune System.” Simply Psychology, 1

Jan. 1970, www.simplypsychology.org/stress-immune.html.