Child Abuse and Bullying

One of my favorite psychiatrists told me once that “Prints on fresh cement never disappear”.

This powerful analogy perfectly defines the long-lasting effect of abuses have on children and their lifetime repercussions.

Regardless of how many therapies you follow or other means you find to deal with it in order to minimize their impacts on your life, they are still around. The root of the damage(s) stays forever and sometimes comes up to the surface in a hidden way.

I was severely bullied, mentally and physically, from kindergarten up to 7 years old. I was bitten up, spat at, nobody wanted to play with me and the list goes on. I was afraid to tell my parents or the school as the bullies threatened me that if I told anybody, things would get worse for me. I believed them and told no one, neither the school or my parents until they found out as my wounds became apparent. The school refused to deal with it using the pretext that; we are children and things like these happen. It became so bad that my mother decided to move to another part of town.

Since it was the only thing I knew I was expecting the same treatment from my new classmates. To the contrary, I was welcomed and my life could finally start.

According to my doctor, this early portion of my life still carries a major weight to this day. It can still influence my actions and decisions. The bullying, coupled with the bipolarity and an anxiety disorder are great ingredients to mess you up, and they did.

Any kind of abuse on a child, suffering from a mental illness or not, has to be considered a major crime bearing serious sanctions. Below is an article from the European Convention On Human Rights of May 2002.

Article 3

Prohibition of torture.

No one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading

treatment or punishment.

This crystal clear but it doesn’t tell us what are sanctions applied to the guilty party. I am not a lawyer and maybe the convention is a guideline and each country applies their own laws. I just don’t know. One important point that isn’t mentioned in the article. Is that any witness or person having knowledge of such acts being committed and doesn’t alert the Authorities should be considered an accomplice and face the same charges and sanctions. Again, it may be stated in country’s laws but I don’t know. If anybody has any knowledge on how this is dealt, concretely, please let me know?

What doesn’t make sense to me is that mental health cost countries loads of money, problems, and deaths. Rationally one would think that it would make sense to try to improve and prevent mental health problems in order to save money at least. As we all know that society couldn’t care less about us. I can honestly say France is an exception, as a bipolar, all cares are free: doctors, nurses, medication. I hope other countries provide the same type of service. The only problem in France is that once you’re labeled mentally handicapped, it becomes impossible to find a job. Even with a French law which stipulates that companies have to hire10 percent of handicapped people (physically or mentally). French firms who do not comply are fined.

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