N.B. There is an easy read version at the bottom of this post.
There are also some translated versions of the easy read (Mandarin Chinese, Hindi and Spanish for now) at the bottom
First, apologies for the late post this week. I've spent the last 2 days at multiple appointments!
So today I'll look at how a child being bullied may not necessarily be balling their eyes out crying, but may in fact appear to be the 'good kid' or very compliant / slightly subdued or quiet, in the classroom and/or at home (look out for!). This was me. Perhaps you are aware that there's some bullying been taken place, but it seems like they are 'coping' with it - unfortunately not.
They're shutting out the pain of what is happening (dissociating) and closing off to the world. A child's brain is highly 'plastic'. It remoulds itself to the environment that it finds itself in. And in this case, it's basically a hostile war zone.
Relentless bullying causes the amygdala (the threat alarm) to become permanently enlarged and hyperactive, while stunting the growth of the prefrontal cortex (the logic centre).
When a child stops fighting back, it is usually a freeze or fawn response. They have entered a situation state of helplessness, learning that no adult is coming to help / save them.
It requires adult intervention before the effects are permanent. Brain scans of children exposed to this sort of abuse show permanent tissue scarring and brain shrinkage.
References
Mueller, S. C., et al. (2022). "Integrative Brain Dynamics in Childhood Bullying Victimization." Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience. [PMC9097078]
Teicher, M. H., et al. (2016). "The effects of childhood maltreatment on brain structure, function and connectivity." Nature Reviews Neuroscience.
Easy read
- A bullied child may appear to be the 'good kid' or very compliant / slightly subdued or quiet (both in the classroom and at home).
- However, this does not mean they are 'coping'.
- Relentless bullying causes the amygdala (the threat alarm) to become permanently enlarged and hyperactive, while stunting the growth of the prefrontal cortex (the logic centre).
- When a child stops fighting back, it is usually a freeze or fawn response. They have entered a situation state of helplessness, learning that no adult is coming to help / save them.
- It requires adult intervention before the effects are permanent. Brain scans of children exposed to this sort of abuse show permanent tissue scarring and brain shrinkage.
Mandarin Chinese
- Yī gè bèi qīfù de háizi kàn qǐlái kěnéng shì yī gè “hǎo háizi”，huòzhě fēicháng tīnghuà、shǎowéi chénmò huò ānjìng（wúlùn zài jiàoshì lǐ háishì zài jiā lǐ）。
- Rán'ér，zhè bìng bù yìwèizhe tāmen “yìngfù” de hěn hǎo。
- Chángqī bùduàn de qīfù huì dǎozhì xìngdǎn（dàinǎo de wēixié jǐngbào xìtǒng）chángqī biàndà bìng chǔyú guòdù huóyuè zhuàngtài，tóngshí yìzhì qiáné qiánqū píng（dàinǎo de luójí hé kòngzhì zhōngxīn）de zhèngcháng fāyù。
- Dāng yī gè háizi tíngzhǐ fǎnkàng shí，tōngcháng zhè shì yī zhǒng dòngjié（freeze）huò qǔyuè（fawn）fǎnyìng。Tāmen yǐjīng xiān rù le yī zhǒng wúzhù de zhuàngtài，bìng kāishǐ rènwéi méiyǒu rènhé chéngnián rén huì lái bāngzhù tāmen huò jiù tāmen。
- Zài zhèxiē yǐngxiǎng biànchéng yǒngjiǔxìng sǔnhài zhīqián，xūyào chéngnián rén jìjí gānyù。Duì yú chángqī jiēchù zhè lèi nüèdài de háizi de dà nǎo sǎomiáo xiǎnshì，kěnéng chūxiàn chángqī de nǎo zǔzhī sǔnhài hé dà nǎo suōxiǎo。
Hindi
- Bullying ka shikaar hua bachcha ek “achchha bachcha” ya bahut zyada aagyaakaari, thoda shaant ya chup-chaap nazar aa sakta hai (classroom aur ghar dono jagah).
- Lekin iska matlab yeh nahin hai ki woh “cope” kar raha hai ya sab kuch theek se sambhaal raha hai.
- Lagataar bullying ki wajah se amygdala (dimaag ka threat alarm) sthayi roop se bada aur hyperactive ho sakta hai, jabki prefrontal cortex (dimaag ka logic centre) ke vikaas mein rukavat aa sakti hai.
- Jab koi bachcha apna virodh karna band kar deta hai, to yeh aksar freeze ya fawn response hota hai. Bachcha ek aisi haalat mein pahunch gaya hota hai jahan use lagta hai ki woh kuch nahin kar sakta, aur woh seekh raha hota hai ki koi bhi bada vyakti uski madad ya use bachaane nahin aa raha hai.
- Iske prabhaav sthayi hone se pehle adult intervention ki zaroorat hoti hai. Is tarah ke abuse ka saamna karne wale bachchon ke brain scans mein sthayi tissue scarring aur brain shrinkage dikhai de sakti hai.
Spanish
- Un niño que sufre acoso puede parecer ser “el niño bueno”, muy obediente, algo apagado o tranquilo (tanto en el aula como en casa).
- Sin embargo, esto no significa que esté “afrontándolo bien” o que esté sobrellevando la situación.
- El acoso constante puede hacer que la amígdala (la alarma de amenaza del cerebro) aumente de tamaño y se vuelva hiperactiva de forma persistente, mientras que puede afectar al desarrollo de la corteza prefrontal (el centro de la lógica).
- Cuando un niño deja de defenderse, normalmente se trata de una respuesta de congelación (freeze) o de complacencia (fawn). Ha entrado en un estado de indefensión, aprendiendo que ningún adulto va a venir a ayudarlo o salvarlo.
- Se necesita la intervención de un adulto antes de que los efectos se vuelvan permanentes. Las exploraciones cerebrales de niños expuestos a este tipo de abuso pueden mostrar cicatrices permanentes en los tejidos y reducción del volumen cerebral.
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