Prevention of depressive symptoms, anxiety, distress and suicidal thoughts among victims of cyberbullying through an online tailored advice

This paper will report on an online tailored intervention developed to learn to cope effectively withCyberbullying experiences, and is explicitly directed at cyberbully victims in the age of 13-15 years. The ultimate goal is to reduce the bullying experiences of victims and as a consequence to significantly decrease depressive and anxiety symptoms, suicidal thoughts, and distress among these victims. Victims get three tailored advices divided over 6 months. The tailored advices are theoretically based on the cognitive Rational Emotive Behavioural Therapy (REBT) developed by Ellis (2007) and use methods derived from the social cognitive theory of Bandura (198). According to the REBT, it is not the event itself that upsets individuals, but the irrational beliefs they hold (for instance ‘nobody likes me’). These irrational beliefs cause psychosomatic and psychosocial health problems.