Speaking of workplace bullying

Abstract

Despite the increasing frequency of its reported incidence, especially in health care practice and education settings, workplace bullying seems to defy victims' clear understanding of its effects on them personally and to challenge their ability to provide cogent explanations about those effects to others. Especially, when it is subtle, as is the case in much of workplace bullying, the experience is emotionally confusing to its victims, and its inherent behaviors often seem absurd to those who have not lived through them firsthand. Moreover, the outwardly innocuous behaviors of subtle workplace bullying can yield long-term disorder for victims' coworkers and for employing organizations. Aptly capturing the mechanism of operation of workplace bullying, the concept of catastrophization may provide language to support understanding of victims' personal experiences of subtle workplace bullying and support administrators in recognizing bullying's paradoxical and long-term effects.