1. Bullying and Mental Health Sumi Mukherjee Author of: A Life Interrupted: The Story of My Battle With Bullying And Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

2. Different Forms of Bullying Verbal Insults and Abuse Name Calling Public Harassment Exclusion Physical Violence Making fun of one’s name Making fun of one’s appearance Scaring tactics Cyber bullying

3. Possible Effects of Bullying Makes kids feel self-conscious Lowers self-esteem Lowers confidence Creates self-doubt Causes significant distraction Hinders natural development

4. Longer Term Impact (Contd) Some lucky kids are able to ignore it, with minimal impact In some small number of cases impact is drastic such as suicides or severe counter attacks (like school shootings) However, in numerous other cases there can be different levels of severe long term damage that most of us are not aware of

5. A Common Impact - PTSD PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) is a very common impact of bullying PTSD can play itself out in many different forms: – Extreme alcoholism, sever panic disorders, severe anxiety disorders, etc In my case it triggered OCD

6. Bullying to OCD Bullying ended, but it transformed into OCD OCD is the Enemy Within, like a bully within the person A rather natural transition Impact can continue for years

7. Bullies Need Help Too! Often bullies do the bullying because some things are not going well for them It is important to keep in mind that bullies might also need help in their own lives Bullies are often misguided young people needing intervention

8. What Can We Do We need to understand that bullying is a serious problem – about 70% of the kids get bullied. Many will likely have serious long- term damage It’s not just the responsibility of any one person or any one group (like the teachers, the parents, the mental health staff, the students, etc) Each one of us can make a difference

9. Questions?? For more information please feel free to visit my website at: www.authorsumi.com