Background <p>School bullying is a major risk factor for adolescent mental health difficulties. Psychiatric treatment and recovery may also require a temporary interruption of schooling. Returning to school after bullying-related psychiatric treatment is therefore an important but complex stage of recovery that remains insufficiently understood.</p> Objective <p>This study explored how Chinese high school students make sense of the challenges they encounter when returning to school after bullying-related psychiatric treatment.</p> Methods <p>Guided by an interpretivist perspective, this qualitative study used Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to explore how adolescents made sense of their lived experiences of returning to school. Twelve Chinese high school students aged 16–18 who had experienced school bullying, received formal psychiatric diagnoses and treatment, undergone an interruption to their schooling, and subsequently returned to school participated in semi-structured interviews. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and analysed through iterative IPA procedures.</p> Results <p>Five group experiential themes were identified: Living Beneath the Label, Returning to the Site of Harm, A Body That Tells the Story, Falling Behind, and Alone in the Classroom. Participants described reintegration as a psychologically vulnerable transition shaped by stigma, fear of former perpetrators and bullying-related spaces, treatment-related physical and cognitive changes, learning gaps, and diminished social belonging.</p> Conclusions <p>School reintegration after bullying-related psychiatric treatment should not be understood as a simple resumption of education. Coordinated support across schools, families, and healthcare services is needed to address psychological safety, stigma, academic adjustment, treatment-related challenges, and peer belonging.</p>