Conference by CATHELINE Nicole (Child psychiatrist in the CHU Henri Laborit from Poitier), in Orvault, on March, 21st 2018
For years, harassment in middle school has been minimized and considered as simples teasing between children, being part of life experiences. Nowadays, the school members recognize the impact of these situations and want itself to be vigilant. However, we have to be focus on not using this term in an excessive way. To speak about harassment, 3 criteria must be reunited: harasser presents a will to damage as well as fatal conducts (verbal, physical) and these conducts must be frequent. In France, about one pupil out of ten is actually a victim of school bullying.
During his childhood, the infant imitates his parents and then his siblings to increase his empathy with his « mirror neurons ». By growing up, the child will develop his membership affiliation within his group of friends but also learn to differentiate himself. Some children don’t accept this difference and interpret it as a failure of their own self. Despise what we can think, harassers are not lacking of empathy (except pathological cases). In the contrary, like their victims, they would have a tendency to have higher level of it. So It’s the reaction to that difference (physical appearance, the way you dressed…) that caused situations that first seem derisory but often end with dramatic circumstances.
By a social influence process, the harasser will ally himself with others children to harm his victim. After several fruitless attempts to denounce these conducts, these young people often tend to steep themselves on themselves and to develop disorders (depression, school phobia, anxiety). The bullied kid will feel alone and will persuade himself of his responsibility in the situation. He would feel guilty and could hide the evidences of his harassment which will paradoxically protect his harassers.
These situations are often found four to six months after the beginning of the harassment. In this lap of time, a lot of suffering and traumatisms can be induced. The rate of depression and suicide are very high in this population of harassed children but also for the harassers who are not fundamentally bad: it can sometimes come from an educative problem or from the unconsciousness of the consequences of his actions on the victim.
It seems important to guide those children on the educative front in order to allow a realization of the gravity of such actions. Especially in the cyber harassment because children are behind their computers and it can distort their reality, decrease their emotional empathy and by extension, the ignorance of the suffering they provoke.
BIANEIS Audrey, MARTIN Maxime and MITACHEVITCH Pauline
Key Words :
- Bullying
- Harassment
- Teasing
- Emotional empathy
- Guilt
Vocabulary
- Teasing : les taquineries
- Guilt : la culpabilité
- Unconsciousness : l’inconsience
- To disort : deformer
- Membership affiliation : le sentiment d’appartenance
- To steep themselves on themselves : se refermer sur eux-mêmes
- By growing up : en grandissant
- Derisory : dérisoire