How many of you were bullied at school?

[Jay]

Hello, I'm new here. I've had severe MD for as long as I remember.

I wanted to know, how many of you were seriously harrassed and bullied at school, in a traumatizing way?

I was, in grades 1-4 and 7-9. I was constantly teased, harrassed and called a psycho or a retard.

To this day, I seriously struggle with social relationships and have a reputation round the area where I live for being a mentally ill weirdo... Most people who have met me in life are convinced I am mentally ill, drug addicted or retarded. This has all been very damaging to me, mentally.

In my whole life, there has only been one phase where I was a bit more normal, socially (grade 5 and 6) but even then, my few close friends thought I was a bit weird for different reasons. The rest of my life was and has been spent in isolation.

Thanks for any reply....

[Elisa]

Hey love !

I was bullied in middle school, but then it stopped in high school. I am so sorry to read your story, it is unfair and must have been so tough. however, you are where you are now, and what happened in the past shouldn't affect what happens in the future.

Your daydreaming isn't you being a weird or ill, its you dreaming about who you want to be, and its okay. Now, what you can do is put some of that safe place you find in daydreaming into your "real" life. 

Don't hesitate to reply ;)

E. 

[Tinkerbell]

Yes. I was physically beaten up from the age of 5-7 while I was in school. What made it worse is that some of the children who were bullying me then went out of their way to bully me outside of school until my teens. From then onwards I found it very difficult to socalise with people but eventually I did and then the bullying I experienced was  psychological. Being introverted and alternative in dress sense meant that I was ostracized by many people which continued up until I became an adult.

I find it very difficult to socalise with other people, mainly because I find it hard to trust people due to my experiences. 

[Kina Lowes]

I was...once I moved to the states I had a hard time fitting in. We kept moving over and over again<-- this was a relief because I could get away from the bullying, But I would move to a new school and it felt like as soon as the kids got to know me I would get bullied. It really ingrained the feeling in me that there was something fundamentally wrong with me.

Looking back....I don't feel like the problem was that I was such a nerd  but more because I didn't have any backbone. I was my mom's emotional punching bag at home ( emotional not physical) so at school I didn't really have any foundation. If someone got mad at me I would cower and try to please and it made me a target. I didn't know how to stand up for myself, I didn't believe I could have any needs or wants because I didn't have them at home.

Senior year (my fifth and final high school) It was an international school. Somehow I opened up and I hung out with a popular bunch of girls. In college I was really popular, but I was still insecure and I could still end up getting picked on, until I got away from certain people. I'm WAAAY more confident now. It was a long process. I'm so glad I made it through. As frustrating as MD is, I don't know if I could have endured my childhood without it. I may have resorted to something drastic to stop the pain.

Hey guys...It's REALLY a relief to get this all out. I haven't really told anyone, because no one understands. This feels so cathartic. I don't even know if anyone will read this. But At least I can recognize myself in your stories. Thank you.

[Laura]

Hi!

I was also bullied. Starting in middle school, mostly fizzling out by high school except my brother's asshole friends. 

I think my MDD really kicked up in middle school though, when I lost all my friends and they began to bully me. Then I became a lot more involved and my daydreams were much more detailed. It's sad to say, but I do think it was me trying to make up for my lack of real friends.

[Tony]

Hey man.

I got non verbally abused back in sixth and  seventh grad . I was a fat,ugly , socially awkward kid. Then i lost weight,had more friends and that was the best time of my life. AT my ninth grade i moved to another country , at school i got tricked and bullied. I was always an outsider and never got true friends. It still stuck in my head now.

The true struggle i have is that i don't understand ,why i can't make new friends in the new country like i did in my own? 

To this day i am still very sad and miss those last 2 junior highschool days.

[Kit McDaydream]

Yes, on a daily basis for everything I did..the way I walked, talked everything. It made me hyper aware of myself so much I developed a phobia of doing anything infront of anyone and developed Selective Mutism. I was over 30 yrs the next time I spoke in public again (even something as a small as speaking in a small shop to ask for something) I've never been able to speak on a phone and have an acute phobia of phones the noise makes me jump out of my skin so much I can't leave one connected and its the uncertainty of not knowing when it's going to do it (I compare it with imagining a device can give you an electric shock at any time but you've no idea when it's going to happen).

I was diagnosed with autism too but I do wonder if my social difficulties would have been as bad still in adulthood if I hadn't been so badly bullied as a child/teen.

[Nadia]

Hi there,

I have been bullied twice, first at the age of around 6 which was dealt with by teachers at my school and then later from the ages of 13-16. The first time I think it was more because I was an extremely shy person and therefore a target, the second time when I was around 13 I was beginning to find my feet and was turning into the person I wanted to be. I was still shy and quiet but less so than before, a new girl started at our school and took over (in an almost cult like fashion) my friendship group where I was at the bottom of the hierarchy. I was mostly emotionally abused, being told on a daily basis that I was worthless and that nobody else would want to be “friends” with me, called names for being skinny body type, I had sweets stuck in my hair and my face pushed into glass doors, off walls and was forced to crawl into small spaces for the fun of my peers, locked outside in the rain amongst many other things. To try and stay ok during all of this I MD’d whenever I was around my friends at school and I never contributed to the conversations unless asked. I would spend most of my time looking out the window and imaging I was somewhere else. I didn’t tell my parents about my experience until long after it happened and instead of understanding they mostly were angry at me for not informing them (however I believe that it was pretty obvious what was happening). When I started at college it was a fresh start for me because I felt comfortable being around new people, but I still sometimes get flashbacks about what had happened at school and I don’t think it will ever leave me just like other people who are bullied at school. I definitely was an MDer as a younger child before my second case of bullying, but I know that it contributed to the amount of MDing that I did during and afterwards.

[Kina Lowes]

Geez...this was hard to read. I can't imagine what it was like to experience it.  I'm so sorry this happened to you.

I'm beginning to suspect a pattern of unsupportive, abusive or neglectful parents in many of us. Bullying is probably less likely to occur if you didn't develop a pattern of a being 'victim' at home OR if you had parents you could turn to when it happened. I wonder how many other people had parents they couldn't turn to when they were being bullied at school besides you or me. I would have gotten what you got. My mother would have angrily blamed me, "you need to be tougher! you need to not care what people think!" and my dad would have not wanted to deal with it. So I said nothing also.

Nadia said:

Hi there,

I have been bullied twice, first at the age of around 6 which was dealt with by teachers at my school and then later from the ages of 13-16. The first time I think it was more because I was an extremely shy person and therefore a target, the second time when I was around 13 I was beginning to find my feet and was turning into the person I wanted to be. I was still shy and quiet but less so than before, a new girl started at our school and took over (in an almost cult like fashion) my friendship group where I was at the bottom of the hierarchy. I was mostly emotionally abused, being told on a daily basis that I was worthless and that nobody else would want to be “friends” with me, called names for being skinny body type, I had sweets stuck in my hair and my face pushed into glass doors, off walls and was forced to crawl into small spaces for the fun of my peers, locked outside in the rain amongst many other things. To try and stay ok during all of this I MD’d whenever I was around my friends at school and I never contributed to the conversations unless asked. I would spend most of my time looking out the window and imaging I was somewhere else. I didn’t tell my parents about my experience until long after it happened and instead of understanding they mostly were angry at me for not informing them (however I believe that it was pretty obvious what was happening). When I started at college it was a fresh start for me because I felt comfortable being around new people, but I still sometimes get flashbacks about what had happened at school and I don’t think it will ever leave me just like other people who are bullied at school. I definitely was an MDer as a younger child before my second case of bullying, but I know that it contributed to the amount of MDing that I did during and afterwards.

[Silver Swan]

I got bullied and harassed in such an embarrassing and traumatizing way, that I still felt hurt about it for years into my adulthood, and I held onto it so much, that it was very hard to form relationships with people.

All of elementary school, middle school and high school was a nightmare and I didn't fit into any crowd. I was constantly being bullied by other people, because I was socially very weird on the outside, and had autism spectrum disorder. Students would scream, laugh, curse and berate me into the face. My attention span was really effected by my MDD, so people could easily see when I was out of it and a million miles away. I often looked dazed in the face and laughed a lot for nothing, which made it more evident to others.

Yes, I've received names by many, such as retard, dope sniffing, mental, fuck head, bitch and idiot. Though, at other times, my own family has called me insane, bonehead, imbecile, idiot...you name it, not just non-family. They all reacted to my mindless, feather brained and illogical actions whenever I day dreamed. Some situations were pretty traumatic, like I'd lose or leave behind important items.

Luckily, I learned to let go and move on. Anybody who hurts you is no friend of yours. I know for certain who cares about me and who doesn't care at all. Most of everybody who harassed me are gone from my life, and probably forever, which is no loss.
Basically, I spent from months to years feeling hurt and haunted over a bunch of losers. People like to use your misfortunes and weaknesses to make themselves look and feel better.

[Kina Lowes]

Kinda nice to hear similar stories isn't it. So you know you're not alone. I've lost a LOT of things, I forgot a computer at an airport. Ive money, document. I have to go back into my house 2 - 4 times everytime I leave because I'll forget something in the house...lotion, wallet...whatever. I used to lose my keys CONSTANTLY. Lol. It is what it is.

Silver Swan said:

I got bullied and harassed in such an embarrassing and traumatizing way, that I still felt hurt about it for years into my adulthood, and I held onto it so much, that it was very hard to form relationships with people.

All of elementary school, middle school and high school was a nightmare and I didn't fit into any crowd. I was constantly being bullied by other people, because I was socially very weird on the outside, and had autism spectrum disorder. Students would scream, laugh, curse and berate me into the face. My attention span was really effected by my MDD, so people could easily see when I was out of it and a million miles away. I often looked dazed in the face and laughed a lot for nothing, which made it more evident to others.

Yes, I've received names by many, such as retard, dope sniffing, mental, fuck head, bitch and idiot. Though, at other times, my own family has called me insane, bonehead, imbecile, idiot...you name it, not just non-family. They all reacted to my mindless, feather brained and illogical actions whenever I day dreamed. Some situations were pretty traumatic, like I'd lose or leave behind important items.

Luckily, I learned to let go and move on. Anybody who hurts you is no friend of yours. I know for certain who cares about me and who doesn't care at all. Most of everybody who harassed me are gone from my life, and probably forever, which is no loss.
Basically, I spent from months to years feeling hurt and haunted over a bunch of losers. People like to use your misfortunes and weaknesses to make themselves look and feel better.

[Silver Swan]

I forgot my dog on a family road trip to the cottage. I left my wallet at the library, but safely retrieved it back. I almost forgot to take out my debit card from instant tellar machines. Clerks called after me, because I just about walked off without my purchased items. I accidentally left my mother's newly bought mother's day present at the Exhibition, but luckily got it back.
I left my purse behind at home, when I was going out to exchange my bed sheets. My mother always gave me an ear drum and asked where my head was. 

I was shopping at a mall, and I forget my sun glasses and water bottle, so I had to return to a clothing store 2-3 times. I recently dropped and lost my iPhone case in the public park, because I constantly pulled out my iPhone to take snap shots.

Honestly, people always look at me really strangely and wonder if I'm OK. They even believe I'm very stupid.

[Beautiful Dreamer]

I started the MDD a little bit when I was little, but it really kicked off when I was 13, when I was bullied at school. I was never physically hurt, but I had friends who decided not to be friends at different points, and a lot of teasing throughout. Daydreaming was my escape.