Virtually everyone has memories of being bullied at some point in their life. Sometimes a bully can just be an annoying nuisance but often the consequences can be much more devastating. Children who are victimized by bullies are more likely to experience depression or other psychological problems. They are also more likely to droop out of school.

The actions of a bully can range from name-calling, stealing money, provoking fights, to even more serious harassment. Bullies can create physical, emotional, and verbal abuse. This may not help someone currently being taunted, but bullies generally suffer from very low self-esteem. These children may have been bullied themselves or were the victims of other forms of child abuse. There is usually a great deal of anger and rage hiding inside them just waiting to get out. Their acts of harassment or even violence were sad attempts to make themselves feel better than someone else.

Bullying is similar to other forms of abuse. It involves an imbalance of power. Strangely the bully is actually feeling a sense of powerlessness and tries to compensate by creating a situation in which he appears to have much power. And of course there is a lack of compassion or concern for the feelings of the victim.
According to the Safe Child Program (an Internet web-site), some children are more likely to become chronic victims than others. These children tend to have some of the following characteristics: