Bullying kills an Egyptian student, whom her classmate described as "ugly"

An Egyptian student died of a severe heart attack after being bullied by her classmates.

And according to what was published by Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper yesterday, Saturday, "Rodina Osama (a 16-year-old first-year secondary student) died after her classmates bullied her in a school in the Al-Haram area in Giza."

A number of witnesses to the incident told the newspaper that the victim's female colleagues bullied her, saying, "You are not at our level until you play with us.

Eyewitnesses and members of Rodina's family narrated that she left the school to her home in a state of complete collapse, to tell her sister what happened inside the school on the part of her classmates, before she suddenly fell to the ground and died of grief.

Rodina's father said that "an argument took place between his daughter and her classmates, who wrote their names on her disk in the classroom, deliberately harassing her, so that one of them scolded her, and when she told me what happened, I told her not to worry," according to the newspaper.

For its part, "Cairo 24" newspaper quoted Rudina's father as saying, "We were surprised after that that Rudina fell unconscious inside the apartment after suffering a psychological crisis, and she stopped moving and breathing."

The newspaper said that the emergency operations room in Giza received a signal from the hospital stating that it had received the body of a girl named Rodina, and upon signing a medical examination on her, it was revealed that she had suffered an acute heart attack.

What is the scientific explanation for the death of Rodina?

The scientific explanation for Rodina's death is explained by the American Academic Medical Center "Cleveland Clinic" in its answer to a question: Can a "broken heart" (exposure to a sad situation) lead to death?

The site answered the question by saying, "It's called broken heart syndrome, which can happen when a very emotional or traumatic event causes an increase in stress hormones, and these hormones can expose you to heart failure in the short term, which can lead to death."

The site also linked strong negative emotions, such as depression, anger and fear, to heart disease.

Does sadness cause what looks like a heart attack?

Broken heart syndrome is also called Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, after the Japanese doctor who discovered the syndrome.

The deceased usually develops this condition in response to sudden emotional tension - especially grief - and it is more common in women than in men.

"Broken heart syndrome may result from hormonal factors and contractions in the arteries, and it can resemble a heart attack that occurs due to a blood clot in the arteries," explains cardiologist Mark Gilinov.

For incomprehensible reasons, the patient experiences a huge rise in adrenaline, which can stimulate a heart attack, so the heart muscle stops contracting, and it looks like a heart attack when an EKG is performed.

Most of the time, when the spasms relax and the blood flow resumes, the patient usually suffers from a heart attack, and if heart failure does not improve, it can cause death in very rare cases.

Does depression increase the risk of heart disease?

People who are depressed have an increased likelihood of developing heart disease, and vice versa. Negative emotions also lead to higher blood pressure, increased vascular reactivity and the possibility of blood clots, which is why stressful emotions can trigger a heart attack in vulnerable people.

Bullying.. a bitter experience that may lead to illness or suicide

As for bullying, experts say that various societies around the world suffer from this problem, which comes in multiple forms and shapes and at different age stages. Perhaps the most dangerous of them is bullying in schools and during childhood.

Recent scientific research and studies indicate that the effects of bullying in childhood can last for decades, and long-term changes occur that can put us at risk of mental and physical illnesses.

According to a research paper published in the Harvard Review of Psychiatry, a woman who was bullied as a child is 27 times more likely to develop panic disorder in youth, while in men, bullying in childhood led to An 18-fold increase in suicidal ideation.

The study confirmed that bullying harms the rate of marks obtained by the victims in school, which affects their educational attainment, which reduces their job opportunities in the future, which means that they will be more likely to experience financial instability and unemployment in adulthood.

The study indicated that bullying increases the possibility of infections to the point of threatening the immune system, because high and frequent inflammation contributes to the erosion of the body’s organs, which leads to serious medical conditions, such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.

The study showed that some teachers were tacitly supporting bullying by turning a blind eye to the obvious issues that were going on in front of their eyes, and some schools were tolerating certain types of bullying because they reflected broader social prejudices.

A large proportion of the children of judicially or socially accused mothers reported harassment or bullying because of their family, and many ethnic minority students are likely to be bullied and their schools turn a blind eye to this behavior, according to observers.

Psychologist Dr. Amira Hassan told Al Jazeera Net that the effects of bullying include sleep problems, headaches, stomach pain, and long-term psychological, emotional and behavioral problems such as depression, loneliness, introversion and anxiety.

She said that there are 3 criteria that make bullying different from other negative behaviors and practices, which are intentionality, repetition, and imbalance of power, noting that studies have shown that victims of suicide due to bullying are constantly increasing, especially after the presence of cyberbullying.

Priority Bullying Prevention Program

One of the most extensively tested is The Olweus Bullying Prevention Program, developed by the late Swedish-Norwegian psychologist Dan Olweus who led much of the early academic research on child abuse.

The program builds on the idea that individual cases of bullying are often the product of a broader culture that tolerates victimization, and as a result attempts to address the entire school ecosystem so that bad behavior does not thrive in it.

It is noteworthy that international statistics found that one out of 3 children is subjected to bullying daily, 75% of children witnessed bullying of others, 70% of school officials saw boys bullying their peers, and 57% of bullying cases stopped when others intervened.