Innovation in tackling bullying and cyberbullying: integrated contributions from clinical psychology and new technologies

In our day and age, it is widely recognized that bullying and cyberbullying are severe and growing public health issues (Zhu et al., 2021), amplified by the ever more extensive digital developments (Sorrentino et al., 2019). New forms of conducts arisen, such as cyberstalking, online dating abuse, unauthorized sharing of media, etc. (Bradshaw et al., 2017). Although the phenomenon is recent and the related data not always consistent, it is assumed that the global prevalence – in children and adolescents – of victimization from cyberbullying ranges from 14% to 57.5%, while perpetration from 6 to 46.3% (Zhu et al., 2021). Field literature shows that cyberbullying negatively affects adolescents wellbeing (ESPAD, 2023), linking it with psychological, behavioral, social and development issues (Raskauskas & Huynh, 2015). Cyberbullying repercussions affect both victims and perpetrators, leading them to substance abuse, aggressiveness, depression, social anxiety and even suicidal ideations (Coelho et al., 2018; Biagioni et al., 2023; ESPAD, 2023). Therefore, due to the rapid and constant spread of the phenomenon, which makes it more pervasive and hard to contrast, the need for innovations in tackling cyberbullying is more urgent than ever. In light of the above, the Symposium aims to explore how, as of today, the phenomenon of bullying and cyberbullying affects the human community and how clinical psychology contributes in contrasting it. In particular, the Symposium delves into how new technologies – such as Artificial Intelligence, Deep Learning models, Natural Language Processing techniques – can support clinical psychology in tackling the phenomenon, as well as how clinical psychology itself can direct the technological development of our time for this aim. Thus, Symposium’s contribution will offer an insight on how the potential of the interaction between clinical psychology and new technologies can provide innovative and effective solutions to tackle cyberbullying and reducing it repercussions for children and adolescents.