Zak Mucha, LCSW, talks about bullying

School bullying is universally decried, bemoaned, and condemned. And on the rise. Whether it's a teenager committing suicide as a result of a Facebook posting or a group of schoolchildren taunting another child with autism and filming it for the "entertainment" of others, the longest-lasting, deepest-scarring impact of bullying is emotional, not physical. Failure to understand this has handicapped an already-insipid series of failed "solutions." How many more teens have to kill themselves before we do something about it, beyond making it a new talkshow topic?

Heart Transplant--by Andrew Vachss, Frank Caruso, and Zak Mucha--is aimed at actually changing the way we deal with perhaps the most critical issue for children and parents alike today. To accomplish this mission, an entirely new medium was created. Neither a graphic novel nor a self-help book, it uses elements of both to reach parents and children alike. The intermingling of word and art is achieved so smoothly that it is experienced as one does words-and-music: you may forget the lyrics and hum the tune, but that very act evokes the lyrics. And if it's the lyrics that stick with you, you'll find yourself humming the tune. The anchoring essay (by clinical social worker Zak Mucha) explains in prose detail what the reader has just experienced. You'll find this book in the "Parenting" and "Young Adult" sections of your bookstore. Why? Because there is no "Bullying" section. And if Heart Transplant hits either target, it will hit both. Nothing like this has ever been tried before. But if it works, the high risk will be rewarded by the greatest prize of all.

Read a preview of Heart Transplant at http://vachss.com/heart

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• bullying
• cyberbullying
• school bullying
• facebook suicides
• parenting
• zak mucha
• andrew vachss
• frank caruso

[davita1111]

Boy, he is SO right about how this kind of treatment does a number on you, emotionally.

In my high school there were a handful of us who were singled out and humiliated on a regular basis, though no physical violence was involved. Still, while I knew these kids were just nasty, mean-spirited people, never once did I think back then that maybe what they were saying about me was NOT true. I hated the bullying but if they called me 'ugly' it had to be because I was ugly. Never questioned it.

[whiskerchild]

That's how men talk to women....... it isn't just victims of abuse, women have been treated like that for eons; glad things have changed (somewhat).