Understanding and Addressing Adult Bullying: A mental health perspective
Adult bullying is a pervasive issue that often goes unnoticed in our society. While it may not receive as much attention as bullying in schools, it can have profound and lasting effects on individuals’ mental well-being.
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 bullying, adult bullying is often subtle and can occur in professional, social, or even familial settings.
Direct bullying 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 bullying 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 adult bullying
Mental health implications of bullying
According to Wolke and Lereya (2015) children who experienced bullying 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 of bullying
Bullying 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
