Many parents underestimate the importance of bullying among siblings. They justify it by saying that "that's a brother thing" and that it does not have a significant impact. However, it was not that that concluded an investigation carried out by the University of Cambridge. In it, it has been shown that family bullying is a childhood trauma that tends to psychosis.
It is defined as family harassment to carry out in a systematic and continuous manner that is directed to annoy, intimidate or psychologically bring down one of its members. In particular, this type of behavior is observed among siblings, it being quite common for an older brother to use it with the younger ones.
"Violence is not power, but the absence of power".
What the aggressor seeks is to psychologically destabilize the other. A study conducted with 3,600 individuals revealed that these types of behaviors give rise to a childhood trauma that predisposes to psychosis in adult life.
In colloquial words, that is aggressed psychologically within his family by a brother has a greater tendency to "go crazy" that is, to lose contact with socially accepted reality.
Family bullying, a precocious trauma
Children are obviously not mature, and they are not fully aware of the consequences of their actions. However, sometimes there are already psychopathic traits, especially in dysfunctional families or with serious problems.
It can happen, then, that one of the brothers exerts psychological violence on the other. The common thing is that one of the majors does this on one of the minors, but the opposite also can happen.
One of the brothers subjects the other to constant humiliations. Almost always that happens in jokes, or in what seems to be jokes. Psychological aggression disguises itself as a joke, challenge or competition. The objective, almost always unconscious, is to expel the one who is being bothered by the family.
The common thing is that the author sees the victim as a threat to his power within the family structure. Almost never that perception corresponds to reality; it is a perspective born of insecurity, jealousy, or as a protection from the mistreatment of one of the parents or other adults. Thus, the cycle of childhood trauma begins.
The victim of bullying among siblings
It is relatively common for the victim intimidation family is someone friendly, intelligent or something like that. Any virtue that the highlight represents a threat to his brothers, and that is how this dramatic cycle begins.
Also sometimes the opposite happens: the victim has some fault or a deficiency, the other suffers no special attention he receives.
In families with serious behavior problems, parents exercise their cruelty and violence against one of their children. This, in turn, projects the same behaviors on one of his brothers. It is a pathological way to balance the balance by mistreatment.
In general, victims have two options: to flee their home, or to escape this reality through a fissure in their mind. In the first case, they are deprived of the central core of protection and are trapped in a vacuum. In the second, childhood trauma arises, which predisposes to psychosis. In adulthood the development of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or severe depression that may include delusions and hallucinations.
Childhood trauma that predisposes to psychosis
According to the University of Cambridge, children who suffered harassment from their siblings are two to three times more likely to develop psychosis as adults. Who, in addition, simultaneously suffers bullying at school, is up to four times more likely to develop a serious mental disorder.
Sibling bullying adopts many disguises. Go from recurring jokes to scare the other to constant ridicule, or permanent criticism of what he thinks, does or says. Sometimes it includes physical aggressions, especially among children, which hide what happens with excuses that they play "wrestling" or karate.
In any case, the truth is that parents are primarily responsible for allowing this to constitute a childhood trauma. They are responsible for setting the rules of the game in the family. Then, they either provide dysfunctional patterns, or they have no control. In both cases, this implies a lack of serious responsibility.
