How Do You Deal With Cyberbullying Through Hypnosis?

Cyberbullying is bullying that takes place electronically through cell phones or computers. This kind of bullying can occur through texting, emails, photos or videos posted in social media, and during online gaming. Cyberbullying can occur in groups or individually. It includes sharing negative, harmful, false, or mean content about the targeted individual. Often, cyberbullying involves sharing personal or private information that causes embarrassment.  

Cyberbullying is known to affect about one in seven teenagers. Sometimes, often such bullying leads to anxiety or depression. Ways that teenagers often deal with cyberbullying include avoiding social media or attempts at retaliation. Unfortunately, avoiding interactions over social media can lead to isolation in this age when much adolescent interaction occurs in this form. Attempts at retaliation also frequently leads to a bad outcome in that such reactions can lead to escalated bullying.  

Cyberbullying Can Be Difficult to Escape 

Because electronic communication is available 24/7 children subjected to cyberbullying have little relief. Further, posts on social media can remain permanent and this causes children to develop a lot of anxiety regarding how the bullying might affect them in the future. Some children worry that the bullying may lead them to decreased employment opportunities in the future, or affect their prospects for being admitted to a good college.  

Ways of dealing with cyberbullying include ignoring it. A child can be coached that if the cyberbullying persists that it should be reported , including to the platform on which it is occurring, if appropriate. For example, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat allow reporting of offensive content.  A child might also be reassured that there is an overload of information on the internet and thus there is only a small likelihood that bullying posts will affect the child in the future. 

Hypnosis for Cyberbullying 

Hypnosis can be helpful in dealing with cyberbullying in a number of ways: 

1. Children can be taught to calm themselves using hypnosis, which can help them better tolerate the frustration that can be caused by cyberbullying . In this way, they are more apt to be able to ignore it.  
2. A relaxed state achieved in a state of hypnosis can be a good platform from which children can project loving/kindness thoughts towards a bully, which helps them feel and more control of the situation. Sometimes, the enhancement of good feelings on the part of the victim helps change their response to bullying.
3. An interaction with the subconscious through hypnosis can help the child gain insight into reasons that bully might be acting in a hateful manner. Search insight can help the victim recognize that the bullying has little to do with the victim's intrinsic worth and is much more related to the psychological issues that are driving the bully’s behavior. 

Take Home Message 

Cyberbullying is a challenge faced by many children in the 21st century. Children should be encouraged to report it when it occurs, and given support that can include use of hypnotic coping techniques. 

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Author

Ran D. Anbar, MD Ran D. Anbar, MD, FAAP, is board certified in both pediatric pulmonology and general pediatrics, offering hypnosis and counseling services at Center Point Medicine in La Jolla, California, and Syracuse, New York. Dr. Anbar is also a fellow and approved consultant of the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis. Dr. Anbar is a leader in clinical hypnosis, and his 20 years of experience have allowed him to successfully treat over 5,000 children. He also served as a professor of pediatrics and medicine and the director of pediatric pulmonology at SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, New York, for 21 years.