Can Childhood Bullying Cause Generalized Anxiety Disorder In Adulthood?

Childhood bullying is so common that it may not seem like a big deal.

Up to 35% of people are estimated to have experienced it at some point. By adulthood, we are generally expected to have ‘got over’ it. The mental health effects of being bullied can be serious and last a lifetime. 

When it comes to mental health, bullying is as harmful as child abuse, if not worse. 

Approximately 20% of people who have been bullied experience some kind of mental health problems later in life, even at the age of 50. 

While some of these, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), are easy to spot, others may be more difficult to recognize. These can range from inexplicable bouts of anger to a lifetime of feeling inferior to other people.

Although there has been an immense amount of research on bullying, most of it has focused on immediate effects, intervention and prevention.

Bullying has severe long-term consequences that are relatively well documented. Victims of bullying report more severe anxiety symptoms than others. 

Being bullied is linked to social anxiety, which often lasts into adulthood and increases the risk of developing personality disorders.

Depression is another negative consequence of bullying, which might lead to suicidal ideation and even suicide attempts. 

So if you or someone you know is struggling with depression or anxiety and have a history of being bullied, there may be a link.

One of the most severe consequences is PTSD. 40.5% of girls and 27.6% of boys show PTSD symptoms at the time of being bullied. 

These individuals’ torment can sometimes follow them into later life. This can be triggered by just remembering the bullying incident or by related stimuli, such as visiting their school as adults or by encountering their bully in a different environment.

Trust and self-esteem

While people with severe depression, anxiety or PTSD may actually seek help and uncover that bullying could have played a part in their mental health problems, for many other people the signs are more subtle.

Self-esteem is an aspect that is both a risk factor and a consequence of bullying. It is not hard to see that children who are suffering from repetitive bullying at school, at a time when they are still in the process of developing their personalities, could suffer a serious and lasting decline in self-esteem.

Another distinctive example is anger, which is a prerequisite of aggression and has been associated with both victimisation and perpetration of bullying.

For the bullies, it’s well recognized that, behind their abusive behavior, lies the intention to hurt another individual – usually motivated by negative emotions such as aggression, anger and hostility. 

But repeated bullying can also make victims more angry, which in turn maintains the cycle of bullying. The main difference between bullies and victims is that bullies exhibit higher levels of proactive aggression (behaviour that anticipates a reward), whereas victims exhibit higher levels of reactive aggression (anger in response to a threat).

Bullying can also lead to health problems, alcohol and drug abuse, social withdrawal and severe trust issues. For many victims who are trying to overcome the experience, the loss of trust is perhaps the most challenging consequence. 

But if nobody stands up for you at the time of being bullied, you begin to lose trust in your peers – and that may be for life.

It’s also important to note that bullying effects are often related. In other words, low self-esteem is related to depression, depression is related to suicidal ideation, and so on. 

Such relationships lead victims to experience not one, but multiple bullying effects during their victimization period and in their adulthood.

Yes, trauma of different sorts can certainly nail someone years/decades down the road. Happens all the time.

Yes, I believe it can. It's good to be aware of this so  you can consciously be aware that this bullying is all BS, and not let it affect you. Bullying is mostly caused by insecurity. Bad things, as well as good things, are contagious.