Bullying coping strategies? (epic length-even for me!)

[Seshat]

Which I may or may not read. It is, as you can imagine, a very trigger-y subject for me.

[XCashier]

I still find this something of a difficult subject to talk about, even though I'll be 44 in a few days....It makes me angry that I never got that kind of help. The problem was always with me, not with the bullies.

DM, I could've written your post! I'm the same age and went through nearly the same crap you did. The only difference is I was diagnosed with depression in my teens.

I had transfered to a different school in 7th grade for the gifted program, and being the lone poor student in a rich neighborhood school, I was immediately made the School Pariah. And those kids were horrible; the teachers couldn't ignore it when they ganged up on me, tore open my clothes and threw my books into a tree. My parents finally figured out that it wasn't just me being overly sensitive; this had gone beyond mere teasing, and got me help. And out of that awful school.

With all the attention that bullying is getting now, I hope that we as a society can come up with better ways of teaching and treating our kids.

Big to everyone who was bullied, and big to those who were able to put a stop to it.