Psychiatric conditions associated with bullying.

Bullying is a complex phenomenon moderated not only by the personal characteristics and behavioral traits of the individual but also by family rearing practices, as well as by situational factors such as the frequency and type of bullying. The phenomenon is also affected by group processes among the individuals present during the event. Bullying is a distressing experience that is often continuous over years and predicts both concurrent and future psychiatric symptoms and disorders, even in adulthood. At young ages, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and depression, as well as anxiety, are prevalent concurrently with bullying among the children involved. Later in young adulthood, male victims are at risk for anxiety, male bullies for personality disorders, and male bully-victims for both personality disorders and anxiety, and the risk is especially increased if the child is disturbed when involved in bullying at school age. Rarely does any single behavior predict future problems as clearly as bullying does, and additional assessment of psychiatric problems is always warranted, if the child is involved in bullying as a bully, victim or bully-victim. Based on our current knowledge, school-based interventions regulating the behavior of the child, increasing pro-social skills and promoting peer relationships are recommended for those without concurrent psychiatric disturbance, but those displaying psychiatric symptoms and disorders should be referred for psychiatric consultation and intervention.