Adult Bullying and Mental Health Impacts

A mental health perspective on adult bullying behaviours

Defining bullying

Adult bullying involves persistent, intentional, and harmful behavior directed towards another adult. This can manifest in various forms, such as verbal abuse, exclusion, intimidation, manipulation, or spreading false rumors. Unlike childhood experiences, adult bullying is often subtle and can occur in professional, social, or even familial settings.

Direct aggressive behaviours

Includes acts of aggression directly such as:

physical aggression (ie. pushing, hitting, shoving)
verbal aggression (ie. name calling, put downs, or belittling)
stealing

Indirect aggressive behaviours

Behaviours that are not direct from the perpetrating bully to the victim, such as:

social exclusion
spreading rumors
speaking poorly behind the one’s back

The impact of bullying behaviours

Mental health impacts of bullying

According to Wolke and Lereya (2015) children who were bullied were more likely to experience the following as adults:

anxiety
depression
trouble making and keeping friends
limited social supports
worsen financial outcomes
lower educational attainment
increased physical health complaints

In addition, victims of childhood bullying were associated with increased thoughts of suicide, suicide attempts, and death by suicide as adults.

Workplace and professional costs

Bully and harassment behaviours in the workplace is a significant concern and one of the leading workplace stressors. Not surprisingly, is associated with higher rates of employee turnover and lower levels of job satisfaction.

Costs to the employer

Workplace bullying is associated with more employee absenteeism, less productivity, turnover and difficulty keeping skilled workers, and legal fees.

Costs to the employee

For employees, having to change jobs can be a stressful experience in itself. When it is due to workplace bullying this likely increases stress with the urgency to make a change, feeling poorly about oneself and the work situation, and could result in sacrificing professional standing or taking a pay cut.

Rosander, Salin, and Blomberg (2022) studied adults who experienced workplace bullying and changed jobs. They found that changing jobs reduced the workers anxiety, but levels of depression actually remained the same over time. That is, leaving a unhealthy work environment can be very helpful for the worker overall, but may still have lasting consequences.

Addressing adult bullying

What individuals can do

In a bullying situation, individuals can fall into the role of the victim, the bully, or a bystander.

A bystander is when a person witnesses the bullying situation and does not participate to support either the bully or the victim. The bystander may be able to help curb bullying by clarifying to the bully that they do not support their behaviour.

The bully is an adult bullying situation may not identify that their behaviour is harmful or constitutes bullying. If you find that your behaviour is upsetting to those around you or others express concern about your actions, it would be beneficial to reflect and inquire further. Getting curious and exploring your own thoughts, feelings, behaviours, and biases can be hugely helpful. Counselling with a mental health professional is an excellent setting for non-judgementally unpacking these considerations further.

If you are personally experiencing bullying it is important to first be aware that the behaviour is bullying, and that you deserve to be treated with respect, dignity, and feel safe at work and in your various community settings. While no two situations of bullying are the same, there are some general approaches to addressing the concern

share the situation with trusted friends and social supports
counselling can be helpful in working through thoughts and feelings related to past bullying
document incidents of bullying and harassment
if you are experiencing safety concerns it is recommended to discuss this with police
if occurring in the workplace, consider addressing the situation with a manager or human resources
bullying and harassment may also be helpful to share with health professionals such (ie. doctor or psychologist)
workplace bullying may also be reported to your worker’s compensation board (wcb)

Sources

Gillen, P. A., Sinclair, M., Kernohan, W. G., Begley, C. M., & Luyben, A. G. (2017). Interventions for prevention of bullying in the workplace. The Cochrane database of systematic reviews, 1(1), CD009778. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD009778.pub2

Rosander, M., Salin, D., & Blomberg, S. (2022). The last resort: Workplace bullying and the consequences of changing jobs. Scandinavian journal of psychology, 63(2), 124–135. https://doi.org/10.1111/sjop.12794

Wolke, D., & Lereya, S. T. (2015). Long-term effects of bullying. Archives of disease in childhood, 100(9), 879–885. https://doi.org/10.1136/archdischild-2014-306667

Disclaimer:

The information provided in this post and across this website does not, and is not intended to, constitute medical, mental health, or therapeutic advice; instead, all information, content, and materials available on this site are for general informational purposes only. This information does not create any therapeutic relationship and should not be used as a substitute for professional diagnosis and treatment. Consult with a licensed mental health provider for advice or support regarding diagnosis and treatment.