The Hosted by Ellen DeGeneres and the singer Lizzo are said to have done it. Like the leader of the girl clique or the colleague – and again many people on the Internet. Mobbing. Everyone can probably imagine bullying. Maybe you were bullied or bullied or watched – or looked away.
You probably aren’t particularly keen to know what that emotional stress might have done to you. This is actually good news: two new studies investigate the effects of bullying, but they show how the psychological consequences could be treated and prevented.
The imbalance in the brain can be solved very easily
In the first study, researchers from the University of Tokyo looked into the brains of adolescents to understand how bullying affects biochemistry. They were able to show that when young people are bullied, an important neurotransmitter becomes unbalanced. And it is precisely this imbalance that is probably linked to an increased risk of developing psychosis.
The researchers were originally interested in how schizophrenia develops in the brain. Bullying was exciting for her because several studies show that bullying can be the basis for psychotic symptoms. So the scientists asked around 200 young people how often they were bullied at school and in their social environment.
How bullying is related to hallucinations and paranoia
They also asked about symptoms of psychosis. Teens were asked to answer the following: “Have other people ever read your mind?”, “Have you ever received news on television or radio,” “Have you ever thought that you were being followed or spied on?” and “You have once heard voices that others cannot hear?”
Bullied adolescents were more likely to report hallucinations or paranoia. This is not yet a full development of schizophrenia, but it is still similar to the symptoms of psychosis.
But what happens in the brains of young people? Older studies suggest that schizophrenia is linked to the fact that too little of the neurotransmitter glutamate is released in the brain. Glutamate is the most common messenger substance in the central nervous system. The Japanese researchers used a special method to take pictures of the young people’s brains – so they could understand from the outside what was happening inside.
How glutamate levels change
The teenagers who were bullied had low glutamate levels. But not in the entire brain. The glutamate level fell very specifically anterior cingulate cortex, ACC for short, in the area of the cerebral cortex. “A lot happens in the ACC; among other things, there is evidence that this brain region is central to the processing of emotional impulses,” says neuroscientist Michael Schmeißer from the Mainz University Hospital.
The Japanese researchers also found that adolescents with low glutamate levels in the ACC also showed a higher risk of developing psychosis. For Schmeißer, this is plausible: “The study suggests that bullying, i.e. emotional stress, unbalances the glutamate level in the ACC. This imbalance in this region of the brain can ultimately lead to the person’s behavior changing – for example, through the development of unreal thoughts, which is known in medicine as psychosis.”
These findings may seem rightly worrying at first. But there is a positive twist in the study that requires surprisingly little.
How the willingness to help also helps in the brain
“Just the willingness to seek help increased glutamate levels in those affected in the ACC and brought the system back into balance,” says Schmeißer.
The young people were introduced to the fictional depressed boy Taro. Participants were asked to judge whether they would seek help if they were Taro. Overall, 75 percent of bullied young people said they would confide in someone about their problems. On a second measurement, they had higher glutamate levels in the ACC than the victimized participants who did not seek help. The mere intention of seeking help acts as a coping strategy – which is also reflected in the brain.
Simply the willingness to seek help increased glutamate levels in those affected in the ACC and brought the system back into balance.
Michael Schmeisserneuroscientist at the University of Mainz
Overall, Schmeißer believes the study is meaningful, but he sees one aspect that would enable more precise conclusions: “It would now be interesting to find out what measures can be taken in detail to bring the glutamate level in the ACC back into balance – and thus to specifically influence emotional behavior.” At least the study suggests that the messenger substance could be an important adjustment screw in reducing the development of psychotic symptoms in young people and thus the risk of psychosis due to bullying.
© freepik
“First and foremost, anti-bullying programs in schools designed to promote positive social interactions and reduce aggressive behaviors are essential to reducing the risk of psychosis,” says lead author and neuroscientist Naohiro Okada. Such programs could “create a safe and supportive environment for all students.” But what exactly does such an environment have to offer so that psychological problems can be averted?
Mistrust mediates between bullying and psychological problems
While the Japanese scientists did not shed light on this aspect, the study by Georg Slavich (University of California, USA) and Dimitris Tsomokos (University of Glasgow, Scotland) closes part of this gap. she got published in Nature Mental Health. The psychologists were able to specify exactly what is important when it comes to supporting those affected.
They analyzed data from a total of 10,000 young people from the United Kingdom. At the age of eleven, participants were asked how often they were bullied. When the young people turned 14, they were asked to answer how much they trust or distrust other people. The last survey came three years later. Young people were asked to answer questions about their mental and emotional health: anger, anxiety, depression and hyperactivity.
Our data suggests that there is a need for school-based programs that promote a sense of interpersonal trust in school.
George Slavichclinical psychologist
It found that teens who felt they couldn’t trust other people as a result of childhood bullying were at higher risk of developing mental health problems in adulthood. On the other hand, those who do not develop mistrust have a lower risk of developing mental illness later on.
The study confirms how bullying and mental problems are linked: Bullying damages mental health, not least because it creates the impression that the environment is threatening.
Distrust is therefore the mediator between bullying and mental illness. “Our data suggests that there is a need for school-based programs that promote a sense of interpersonal trust at school,” said psychologist Slavich.
Although the analysis did not focus directly on the development of psychotic symptoms, it still provides important insights into how to reduce the levels of emotional distress. Ultimately, bullying is exactly that: emotional stress. And it can even make you physically ill.