Dagbladet has surveyed bullying cases dealt with in Norwegian courts over the past five years, and examined what characterizes the cases.
Since 2018, 25 children, young people or adults, in 24 cases, have sued a municipality for not having stopped or prevented bullying.
21 of the 25 who have sued for compensation after bullying are or have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the survey shows.
The diagnosis then comes either from a professional previously or from the plaintiff’s expert in court.
Kristin Oudmayer, director for children’s rights and sustainability at Unicef, says this about the figures:
– This is very descriptive of how serious bullying is, and how much damage it can do to a person’s mind. Even when the bullying has ended, it is not over for those who have been subjected to it.
Oudmeyer emphasizes that those who go to compensation proceedings probably represent some of the most serious cases, and that bullying will not always result in mental disorders.
SERIOUS: – There are many nuances in bullying cases, for example how long it lasts and the extent. The vast majority can have a good life, despite the fact that they have some difficult experiences with them. But some are hit harder than others, and then there are big consequences, says Kristin Oudmayer in Unicef. Photo: Øistein Norum Monsen
sea view
Psychological specialist and associate professor at the Learning Environment Center, University of Stavanger, Klara Øverland, confirms that the connection between bullying and PTSD is well known:
– Through clinical work, I know that many children get PTSD after bullying, says Øverland.
She says students can get symptoms already while they are at school. This can involve reliving traumatic memories that inhibit students, they feel they are losing control, sleep poorly, wake up a lot at night and engage in a lot of avoidance behavior (see fact box).
Unable to work
The most important subject of dispute in court is not whether there is a PSTD or not, although there is sometimes also a dispute about that. There may also be controversy about the connection between bullying and PSTD. Most important, however, is the dispute over whether the school/municipality could have done more to stop/reduce bullying.
In 15 out of 24 cases, the court has assumed that there is a connection between bullying and PTSD. Victims of bullying have still not received compensation in all these cases.
Dagbladet’s survey also shows that in at least 15 of the 24 cases, those who applied for compensation had a degree of work disability. For five of the cases, the degree of disability was not an issue because the plaintiffs were still young people and not yet in working life.
– This says something about how pervasive bullying can be in a life, and that it destroys a person’s future prospects. It is very sad that it can become so serious, says Kristin Oudmayer in Unicef.
Cecilie and Celine
Dagbladet has told the stories of Cecilie Haugen and Celine Smitt. Haugen recently had to appear in the Agder Court of Appeal because Drangedal municipality appealed, after it was sentenced in the district court to pay her compensation of over two million kroner. Judgment in the appeal case is expected at the beginning of April at the latest.
– They said I was ugly
Central to the appeal was the question of whether Haugen’s diagnosis of complex PTSD was due to bullying or other conditions.
Unique judgment
Celine Smitt sued Sandefjord municipality for not intervening and preventing the bullying she believes she was subjected to. Smitt lost in the district court, but as one of two in recent years has nevertheless won through to the final round.
Johannes Kleppe, who is Cecilie Haugen’s lawyer, believes that there may be more bullying lawsuits in the wake of the Celine Smitt case.
– In addition, there has been more focus on bullying in society and then also the legal system, and major reinstatement cases such as the Baneheia case and the Birgitte Tengs case have made us understand the consequences of not doing things properly. It will come back ten, twenty, thirty years later, says Kleppe.
Bullying settlement with Drangedal
Compared to domestic violence
– We don’t realize how terrible it is for a child who, for example, fears the next time they are locked in the bathroom, or are told that they are ugly and don’t deserve to live.
So says Tine Jensen, who is a professor at the Department of Psychology at the University of Oslo. Together with two colleagues from the National Center for Violence and Traumatic Stress (NKVTS), she is behind a study that has investigated various traumas and the degree of PTSD. The study was published in The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and included 4,000 children who had been referred for treatment in mental health care for children and young people (BUP).
The study showed that serious bullying at school can lead to traumatization in the same way as domestic violence.
