Childhood Bullying may Increase Psychotic Experiences Later in Life

Traumatic events experienced during childhood can stay with us throughout our entire life. An alarming memory can trigger fearful responses in an adult mind, and for those that were victims of bullying as children, this can be particularly significant.

A recent study shows that later in life, adult victims of childhood bullying may be more prone to psychotic experiences.

According to researchers from the University of Warwick along with colleagues from the University of Bristol, they analyzed how victims, perpetrators and those who are both bullies and victims are at an increased risk for developing such experiences.

Study findings showed that chronic victims of bullying (those who were bullied over several years) as well as the bullies themselves were up to four and a half times more likely to suffer from psychotic experiences by the age of 18. What's particularly concerning is that study authors also found that even those who only experienced bullying for brief periods (one to two year or less) were also at an increased for the same experiences, with 'psychotic experiences' ranging from hearing voices to seeing images that are not there.

"We want to eradicate the myth that bullying at a young age could be viewed as a harmless rite of passage that everyone geos through--it casts a long shadow over a person's life and can have serious consequences for mental health," said lead study author from the University of Warwick, Professor Dieter Wolke, via a press release. "These numbers show exactly how much childhood bullying can impact on psychosis in adult life. It strengthens on the evidence base that reducing bullying in childhood could substantially reduce mental health problems. The benefit to society would be huge, but of course, the greatest benefit would be to the individual."

This is the first study to report the long-term effect of bullying, according to its authors. They note that while even controlling external environmental and family factors or pre-existing behavioral problems, children who were bullied were still at an increased risk for psychotic symptoms of paranoia and depression.

"The results show that interventions against bullying should start early, in primary school, to prevent long term serious effects on children's mental health," Wolke said, via the release. "This clearly isn't something that can wait until secondary school to be resolved; the damage may already have been done."

More information regarding the study can be found via the journal Psychological Medicine.