Workplace bullying can have a bigger impact on your company than you imagine. It can impact not only the mental health and wellbeing of one person but it can ripple throughout the whole team. When people don’t work as hard or stay home more often, or don’t have as high of a sense of morale, these things can hurt the whole organization.
The following article talks about the consequences of workplace bullying. Also, it talks about how this kind of behavior affects the workplace and what people can do to help stop it.
Effects on Mental Health on the Victim
Here are the areas of mental health that get affected when bullying is prevalent in the workplace.
Self Concept
There is a higher possibility of being rejected and called names in the workplace, affecting a person’s self-concept. When they don’t feel good about themselves, they suffer from low self-esteem.
- Self-esteem is defined as how a person views himself regarding his competency, worth, and value. This means that a person can feel as if he is less important or that he is a failure.
- Self-worth is another thing affected by bullying. It is defined as a person’s view of himself in terms of his value. Someone with a higher sense of self-worth will be more likely to accomplish his goals.
- Self-efficacy is defined as a person’s confidence in his ability to accomplish a task. When a person feels that they can’t do something well or are lacking somehow, they will not have a good sense of self-efficacy.
When a person doesn’t have a good sense of self-worth or self-efficacy, they are more likely to lower their self-concept. A lower self-concept is when a person’s sense of self-worth, self-efficacy, and self-concept.
Significant Personality Changes
People may change and be more socially isolated and withdrawn. They may even exhibit personality disturbances. This will affect the way they deal with people and their work performance.
When people are being bullied, they may look for ways to escape their situation. Some people will react in ways that will make them more ostracized. They may start to dress differently, have a bad attitude, and act aggressively.
Psychological Distress
The constant pressure of bullying can cause a person to be depressed, anxious, and even suicidal. There is also an increased risk of addictions. Some people will abuse drugs or alcohol to cope.
When someone is being bullied, they also may develop PTSD, which results from being in a terrifying situation or from a threatening event. The trauma caused by bullying may contribute to this disorder.
Fearfulness
People being bullied are afraid to speak out for themselves. They may start to feel scared when they come to work. They also may have trouble concentrating and have an increased level of stress. This can lead to a high turnover rate.
Hostility
They may have a feeling of bitterness, resentment, anger, and hostility.
They may be more aggressive and defensive in a conflict situation. This can lead to injury to the person being bullied or being aggressive. It could also cause an increased risk of conflicts among people.
Hopelessness
The person may feel hopeless and believe they have no options. They may feel as if no one will help them.
Betrayal
People feel betrayed by the employer when they don’t do anything about the situation. They may feel as if the employer is siding with the bully. This can lead to decreased trust in the organization and a decreased ability to work productively.
Workplace mindfulness
Effects on the Mental Health of Bullies
Bullying can have a very negative effect on the mental health of both parties: those being bullied and those who bully others. It can also cause a person to become a bully in the future. This is because they have learned that bullying is an effective way to maintain power and status.
Bullies often do it to feel more powerful or to have control over others. Bullying is a way they can be in control and feel superior to others.
When a person struggles with rage or violence, they are more likely to become a bully.
A bully is usually someone who has a deficiency in how he handles his anger. This has to do with the person’s social development.
The person may have learned to be aggressive when they were younger. They may have been bold because they felt threatened.
The person may have learned to be aggressive to gain status in their peer group. This can happen in the workplace, as well as in other places.
A person may have become aggressive and be a bully because they were bullied when they were younger. It can be a response to feeling helpless and powerless.
Conclusion
As you can see, bullying has detrimental effects on both the bully and the one being bullied. These effects can impact both mental health and the workplace as a whole.
It helps if you can recognize the signs of bullying and take steps to stop it.
If you are not sure if this situation describes you, I have put together a free training covering ways to deal with workplace bullying.
Are you suffering from bullying? I am here to tell you that I can support you through this, there are ways to regain your confidence and self-esteem.
Love, 
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