Psychological Abuse At The Workplace
WHY THIS TYPE OF ABUSE IS SO DIFFICULT TO DETECT AND DOCUMENT
Psychological abuse is very difficult to document and even more difficult to
prove. No tangible evidence exists. When the victim is asked: ‘Well, what is happening
to cause such stress?’ The answers are difficult to express; they seem trivial
and pathetic. For example,
- ‘He ignored me in the corridor.’
- ‘She looked at me in a disparaging way.’
- ‘I’ve heard rumours about me that are not true.’
Isolated incidents in the working day do not necessarily lead to major problems
and a colleague or supervisor may be left feeling as if they have a serious problem
coping with life. Lack of understanding, action or perception on the part of the
superior, colleague, friend or doctor plunges the victim further into the belief
that he or she owns the problem. Because of this, the victim usually keeps it
all to him or herself for fear of being labelled. In many cases it is the GP who
deals with it as the patient presents with symptoms of depression such as altered
sleeping patterns, gain or loss of weight, relationship problems, periods of panic
or dread, etc. However, the symptoms of depression and demoralisation can easily
be blamed on stresses outside work because, as the abuser continues, unhealthy
stress affects all areas of the victim’s life. The abuser always has an explanation
to cover any query about the abused:
- ‘She really doesn’t have the qualifications for the job.’
- ‘He is going through a pretty rocky patch in his marriage.’
- ‘She has a history of not staying very long in any job.’
The abuser easily hides or justifies the abuse:
- ‘People learn from me then take the knowledge somewhere else.’
- ‘He’s just appalling but no-one will speak out.’
- ‘I keep the standards high here.’
The abuser intimates that he or she is carrying more than a fair share of the
workload:
- ‘I can’t get anyone to stick at this job.’
- ‘I end up having to cover for them.’
- ‘I just get them trained and they are gone.’
- ‘I can’t be expected to complete these tasks without people who can do the
work.’
Reproduced with the express permission of Robyn Mann (2000).
Return to Psychological Abuse
In The Workplace by Robyn Mann
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