34 Sarah Feuerbacher, Travis Moore and Hannah Gill
The pain caused by bullying and victimization is experienced markedly different
in individuals with ASD. These individuals may not have the ability for abstract cog-
nitive reasoning to understand emotions of extreme sadness, confusion, or anger, but
they do understand the pain of a physical injury, such as a cut, and also know how it
heals; therefore, self-injury may be used because physical pain is easier to both cope
with and understand. Furthermore, self-harming is used when there is a personal
feeling of a lack of power and control, usually over another person or an environ-
ment. An individual with ASD who is suffering from bullying may have a percep-
tion that there is not a trusted person or environment in which to safely release
that pain; therefore, they use themselves (i.e., their bodies) as an outlet for their pain
because it is the one thing they have control over. In other words, these individuals
can develop habits of creating pain they are controlling on the outside because it
relieves the pain that they feel on the inside, albeit only a temporarily relief.
Bullying through the lifespan
Developmental theory suggests that individuals who are in their teen years or func-
tion at an adolescent level, and who are encouraged to do things in which they can
be successful and where they are praised for their accomplishments, are more likely
to demonstrate diligence, persevere at tasks until completed, and put work before
pleasure. However, if they are instead ridiculed and bullied by peers, misunderstood
and punished by teachers and parents for their efforts, or find they are incapable of
meeting expectations, they develop feelings of inferiority about their capabilities
(Erikson, 1980).
Through the transition from childhood to adulthood, these individuals expe-
rience mixed ideas and feelings about the roles they are capable of playing in the
adult world and the specific ways in which they will fit into society, and they are
confronted by this role confusion in the face of an often potentially hostile world.
This experience significantly impacts self-confidence and may permanently change
one’s self-concept as they question if they are capable of being successful or if they
are worthless. They may experience signs of depression, which include sadness, lack
of energy or concentration, inability to enjoy things, withdrawal, irritability or anx-
iety, weight loss or gain, change in sleep patterns, pessimism or indifference, and/or
self-harming behaviors (Erikson, 1980).
Bullying in young children can cause somatic symptoms, anxiety, and depres-
sion (Tantam, 2012). Additionally, children recently diagnosed with ASD traits are
more likely to experience bullying than are their peers who are either diagnosed
earlier or their peers who are not diagnosed with ASD at all (Zablotsky et al.,
2014; Fekkes, 2006; Little, 2002; Carter, 2009). The power differential in relation-
ships characterizes the inchoate bullying relationship, and diagnosis, regardless of
type, further stigmatizes young children. Grade school bolsters a breeding ground
of budding social hierarchies. Thus, not fitting in due to social disadvantages such as
physical weakness or size, behavior, intellectual ability, and a lack of age-appropriate
interpersonal development marks these children as social outliers. To make