This question was submitted to Kids Help Phone by a young person and answered by one of our professional counsellors. Before you start reading, we want to let you know the following question mentions experiences of bullying and stigmatizing language that may be upsetting.
Question
I keep being called psycho by this one person. Lets call him G. I try to stand up for myself, but G will keep calling me psycho. There are some other guys (lets call them C & N) that also are mean to me. C called me a bad name in science class for writing down a wrong answer and telling him that what he was doing was wrong when it was wrong. N also called me a psycho because I take pills simply because I have ADHD. He did it just because of that. I may have been silent then, but now it really bothers me and G still is calling me a psycho. Its making me wish I was dead. Please help me with them. I’m too scared to go to school because they may hurt me verbally. I don’t deserve to be treated this way.
Answer
I am very relieved you have reached out to me today.You are being very brave by telling me your story. I just want to say what is happening to you can be called bullying. No one has a right to bully you and treat you this way. Bullying can happen in many forms and name calling, and belittling is one of them. You are so right, you don’t deserve to be treated this way. I can hear this bullying is having a big impact on you. I am hearing your self esteem has been affected and you don’t want to go to school. I think it is important to find ways to express how you feel about all this. You’re doing a great job right now. You may want to start writing down who is saying these mean things to you, what and when they are saying it. So when you hopefully speak to someone like a teacher, principal, parent or counselor for support you will have examples of their inappropriate behaviour. As you can see this is something you don’t have to go through on your own. You have already taken a big first step by telling me and hopefully you will continue to reach out to the people I mentioned. I know it can be difficult to talk about being bullied but think about what you want to say before you reach out. If you think talking in person with someone about the bullying is too difficult you may want to write them a letter. Is there someone at your home that you think can help. If not how about a someone else in your family like a grandparent uncle or aunt. In the meantime don’t try to fight the bullies alone and do your best to ignore them. These bullies just want to see you get mad. So try not to give them the satisfaction. If you have any supportive friends at school it may be a good idea to stay close to them. I will leave with some links that you might find helpful in coping with the bullying. If you ever need more immediate assistance or would just like to chat our helpful and friendly Kids Help Phone counsellors can be reached at 1-800-668-6868. I hope you have found this helpful. I really hope things improve for you.
