MANILA, Philippines – De La Salle University Psychology professor Anton Simon Palo says the solution to bullying should be a preventive policy, not a reactive one. This, he adds, is best achieved not just in school but in the community level.

But before attempting to combat bullying, Palo says one must know first what it truly means.

“According to studies made by Cook, Williams, Guerra, Kim, and Sadek (2010), bullying is a deliberate act of aggression that is repeatedly performed by the perpetrator. They can be either the stereotypical big loner who seems to despise everybody, or a gang of quite sociable individuals who create mayhem just because they believe it is fun or simply because they can. What is common across these people seems to be the display of power they use to exert their own influence on others,” cites the expert on clinical psychology.

Palo says the usual notion of bullying is in a form of physical aggression where the bully punches, kicks, or even throws the supposed victim around. But these days, he adds, it can also be in the form of giving insults, threats or spreading rumors about the victim on the internet.

“This is made possible with the various social networking sites. The emotional damage of these verbal assaults and so-called cyber bullying will have the same, or even more, impact than physical abuse,” he points out.

In bullying, the real point is just to harm others-a demonstration of one’s superiority over others, Palo says.

PEOPLE DON’T FIGHT BACK

Bullying has become so rampant because most people choose not to deal with it while some remain passive. This makes bullying very convenient to do because people don’t fight back.

“Reporting to disciplinary officers may only deter bullies from doing the act within the walls of their schools. What measures are in place to safeguard these children outside of their schools? Also, many bullies are quite influential so when they bully certain children who seem to be outcasts, the act of bullying can become a kind of entertainment for the majority of the students,” he reveals.

Studies also show that not all bullies necessarily have mental disorder but they are likely to get problems in their romantic relationships and are at higher risk for substance abuse.

Still, he believes that this doesn’t hold true for all bullies. In fact, many of them can even become successful in their careers.

A guidance counselor of another school tells Palo that cases of bullying in her area went down because the bullies had been dealt with while some had withdrawn from the school. Others started redirecting their focus on college.

Marlon Era, a sociologist and professor at DLSU, states that children who resort to bullying may be seeking recognition in some other way. They may also have the wrong role models at home.

“All the basic things in life we learn that from the family, from the parents. Even if good laws are implemented on this issue, if the family orientation is bad, you still cannot address the program. We are developing the country’s future leaders here so it is important to teach the right values to our children. We should teach them that its better to be friendly and caring so they would gain more friends,” Era stresses.

For Palo, the best solution is to empower the students to have a unified effort to stop the bullies; to teach proper counseling techniques to teachers and guidance counselors; to involve the parents in the treatment of the child; and to set up community psychosocial centers that play an active role in educating people and children on bullying.