Bullied children more likely to have psychotic event

Schoolchildren who are bullied or physically assaulted are more likely to have a psychotic experience such as hearing voices, according to research published this month in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

A study involving 1,112 pupils in schools in Cork and Kerry also found that classmates were the biggest offenders when it comes to inflicting physical harm. Of the 10% of students who had been physically attacked in the previous 12 months, 45% had been assaulted by classmates.

On the upside, the incidence of hearing voices reduces significantly if the bullying or physical assaults stop, according to researchers at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI), who presented their findings yesterday at the European Society for Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Congress in Dublin.