Article 1 of the IBPA Trauma Series
Originally posted June
27, 2019
In August 2017, the US Department of Health and Human
Services released Bullying
as an Adverse Childhood Experience on its StopBullying.gov site. This
fact sheet calls for all involved in bullying prevention efforts to have a
strong understanding of trauma, to see the relationship between trauma and
bullying, and to develop a shared vision of how bullying prevention might
become a part of trauma-informed practices.
What is trauma?
Trauma is an experience that leaves a person feeling
hopeless or helpless, perceiving a tremendous loss of safety and fear for
survival. The details of a traumatic event itself are not important; instead,
the focus must be on the way people experience the event. When
the brain perceives threat to safety, whether that threat is real or imagined,
the most instinctual part of the brain (often called the reptilian
brain) goes into survival mode. This powerful automatic response is often
categorized as “fight”, “flight”, or “freeze”. Survival mode reduces cognitive
and emotional capacity.
In this survival mode, the body is in a state of
hyper-arousal: where heart-rate is accelerated and emotions are unregulated.
Additionally, stress hormones (such as cortisol and adrenalin) are released.
What makes this most concerning in children is that the surge in these hormones
over an extended period of time may cause damage to a still-developing brain.
The effects of childhood trauma on adulthood is a relatively
new area for research; however, studies confirm that the trauma experienced by
children/young people has long-lasting social, emotional, cognitive, and
physical effects into adulthood. This impact is no less than the Post-Traumatic
Stress diagnosed in veterans of war or first responders in devastating natural
disasters.
What is the relationship between trauma and bullying?
A traumatic experience brings feelings of hopelessness and
helplessness; the same feelings as those targeted by bullying behavior. The
important distinction between bullying and other acts of aggression, the
perceived or real imbalance of power, is at the heart of what constitutes
bullying as a traumatic experience.
Exposure to a childhood traumatic event can cause some
children to exhibit harmful behavior that can last into adulthood. For example,
the original ACE's Study documented 10% of females and 15% of males with high
incidents of childhood trauma that became perpetrators of domestic violence in
adulthood. The trajectory for those engaged in bullying behavior into adulthood
is equally concerning. Bullying researchers Dan Olweus and colleagues found
that males who engaged in aggressive behavior and are identified by age 8 are
more likely to be convicted of a crime and have a serious criminal record in
adulthood. We know that hurt people hurt people, therefore, childhood trauma
intervention may be the key to ending this cycle of violence.
No matter if directly or indirectly involved, the impact of
a traumatic event can be found in anyone. A bullying situation similarly
affects everyone involved: the perpetrators, the victims, and the witnesses.
Looking through the lens of trauma, bullying is viewed as the complex
experience that it is.
Julie E.
McDaniel-Muldoon, PhD
Social Media
Director, International Bullying Prevention Association (IBPA)
Student
Safety and Well-Being Consultant, Oakland Schools (Waterford, Michigan)
Advanced
Practitioner and Trainer, Starr Global Learning Network
Email: julie.mcdaniel@oakland.k12.mi.us
For more
information:
SAMHSA’s
Concept of Trauma and Guidance for a Trauma-Informed Approach
The National
Child Traumatic Stress Network
Starr Global
Learning Network and the National Institute for Trauma and Loss in Children
(TLC):
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