Bullying and Religion

The GetReligion site is one I've only recently hooked up with; they analyse news reports that have a religious content, and see whether the reporters are really doing their job when it comes to the religious aspect. Their goal is to improve the state of religious reporting, whether it be from secular or religious sources.

Recently there was an article about bullying in schools (American schools, but I suspect some of the issues may be relevant to New Zealand). The analysis is interesting not only in its attempt to get at the facts, but also in terms of just how vast a problem bullying now is, along with it being one of the reasons why a number of students commit suicide.

We've looked at bullying and suicides on a number of occasions in this blog because they impinge on the areas of concern we have as bloggists. The blog post Bobby Ross Jr on the GetReligion site has posted is entitled 'Bullying Gays in God's Name', so it extends the concerns still wider.

At the end of the piece, Ross echoes a question another reporter asks: How do parents and schools protect vulnerable kids without turning schools into a battleground for the culture wars? It's a question we need to keep asking here in New Zealand.

Getting it off your chest

While the information in the report discusssed below pertains to Great Britain, most of it is very relevant to the New Zealand scene.
The report is called: Men and Mental Health – get it off your chest. It has some interesting and occasionally surprising things to say about men’s mental health.
One of its recommendations, for instance, is that health professionals should take gender into account when discussing treatment options with men. In other words, men have tended to be treated as less important in the mental health scene for a number of reasons which are discussed during the report.
Amongst these are a tendency for services are often ‘feminised.’
Many men ‘act out’ when having mental health issues, which often leads them to be criminalised because of their anti-social behaviour. The report reminds us that professionals need to recognise that ‘aggressive and violent behaviour is a potential indicator of mental distress.’
Men feel more comfortable discussing their issues in men-only groups, and if men are unemployed for too long they are likely candidates for depression. While partners or spouses may understand the man’s mental health, other family members often deride it.
There is also some discussion of mental health and gays, blacks and other minorities, and the elderly. Altogether this report makes essential reading.

For more information about men's groups, check out this article from the Sunday Star-Times, April 2009