Inside the Mind of a Bully

Bullying is a problem that has reached global epidemic proportions affecting every age, race, and gender regardless of ethnic background, sexual preference, religious affiliation, or social status. No one is immune.

Being victimized by a bully lowers an individual’s self-esteem, self-worth, and self-image, one victimization at a time. Often times, a bully will choose to victimize an individual who already has a low self-esteem or low self-worth regarding these traits as being a weakness or short-coming that is easy to exploit. Bullying, by definition, is power imbalance between the bully and the victim.

Doing a quick search online or at your local library will reveal many books, articles, essays, and studies completed by any number of people regarding the affects of bullying on the victim, the proper detection methods for recognizing bullying, and immediate steps to follow in stopping the victimization.

When someone hears about victimization by bullying, an almost automatic reaction is to feel sympathy for the victim. Everyone always feels sympathy for the underdog of course. This automatic reaction is instinct.

Making the victim into an upstanding, weaker citizen that is being unfairly “picked on” by the big, strong, and aggressive assailant pulls at our heart-strings. Finding a way to help make the victim into a stronger, self-reliant person that is all of a sudden able to stand face–to-face with the bully would, in an ideal world, forever stop any further bullying from that particular assailant. The truth, however, is far from this ideal reality.

To stop the victimization, the mind of the bully must be thoroughly investigated. Why does a bully victimize other people? Why is the bully acting this way?

How do we make the bully stop? These are a few questions that come to mind when we hear about a bully victimizing another person. The reality of why, is often overlooked because of our sympathy for the victim. Removing the victim from the situation is not going to cause this problem to cease. The bully will only find another victim, causing this vicious cycle to continue.