Texas Grand Jury Reviews Cheerleader 'Bonding' Case

Courtney Nickell (center) claims to have been bound and pushed in a pool during a Texas high school cheerleading initiation ritual.

(ABC News)

Cheerleader Hazing or Bonding?

"I don't care if you think it was a joke or something. It's not a joke," she said. "You're hurting people. And it's not just the people you're doing it to, it's their families."

Nickell said that for her, the effects of the incident have still not worn off.

"At school I have been stared at, have been talked about, whispered behind my back, threats being made," she said. "I've had nightmares about people dragging me off and taking me places."

According to psychologist and hazing expert Dr. Susan Lipkins, whether the incident is determined to be hazing or not, it is just the latest in an escalating trend across the country.

"Hazing is increasing in severity and is more aggressive and violent and more sexualized," Lipkins told "GMA." "It has moved from college down to high school, even middle school. In fact, 24 percent of the kids in church groups are even hazed."

Last week, the University of Wisconsin marching band was suspended over hazing allegations including sexual misconduct and alcohol abuse.

In 2003, an Illinois girls football initiation sent five girls to the hospital. One girl said she had a "pig intestine wrapped around [her] neck."

"Everybody can say, 'Oh, that's funny' and 'What's the big deal?' but that's just the beginning," Lipkins said. "What we know with students is they make things larger and larger. They want to outdo the next person."

School district officials said they have suspended all varsity cheerleading activities at Morton Ranch High School in Katy for the rest of the year.

For a girl that has been cheering since the third grade, even if she gets to pick up the pompoms again, it may not be the same for Nickell.

"It's just, it's been devastating," she said.