Psychiatrist Association Publishes Study On Bullying Prevention

The Los Angeles Times (9/16, Healy, 657K) reports on a new comprehensive study of anti-bullying programs published by the American Psychiatric Association which describes bullying as "a process that arises out of toxic group dynamics, not a problem originating with a single troubled person." For this reason, the study concludes, "that virtually none of the hundreds of anti-bullying programs marketed briskly across the world has a record of consistent, well-documented success." The Times notes that the study's lead author believes this is "because they are devised outside of the school system in which they're implemented and because they're imposed, usually from the top down, by well-meaning school committees or administrators without a wellspring of community support."