Healing the wounds of workplace bullying: Evaluating mental health and workplace participation among victims seeking treatment for common mental disorders

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Victims of workplace bullying represent a group characterised by severe negative health complaints at risk of losing their foothold in working life. To date, very few studies have investigated the effect of psychological treatment of the health-related problems often facing victims of bullying. OBJECTIVE: The aim was to investigate if victims of workplace bullying suffering from common mental disorders (CMD) benefit from clinical treatment for their mental help problems at an outpatient clinic treating patients using Metacognitive or Cognitive Behavioural Therapy with work-focus. Criteria were symptom reduction and change in workplace participation. Comparisons were made between the victims of workplace bullying with CMD, a wait-list control group consisting of patients who had also been exposed to bullying yet now awaiting treatment, and other patients not exposed to bullying. METHODS: The sample comprised of 405 patients from an outpatient clinic in Norway. The study used a naturalistic observational design and data was collected pre-treatment and post-treatment. RESULTS: The results showed the treatment to be effective in symptom reduction for victims of bullying to a similar degree as patients otherwise not exposed to bullying. Even more, victims receiving treatment had a larger improvement compared to the wait-list control group (p < 0.001). Yet, among patients on sick leave pre-treatment, fewer victims of bullying were fully working by the end of treatment compared to the patients not exposed to workplace bullying. CONCLUSION: The findings provide ground for optimism for this treatment as an efficient way of dealing with the aftermath of workplace bullying.

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“…Det finnes ikke et eget behandlingstilbud for personer som har blitt utsatt for mobbing på arbeidsplassen, og vi trenger kunnskap for å utvikle behandling som kan bidra til psykisk bedring og økt arbeidsdeltakelse. I min doktorgradsavhandling (Aarestad, 2022), et samarbeidsprosjekt mellom Universitetet i Bergen og Poliklinikken Raskere tilbake ved Diakonhjemmet sykehus, ønsket vi å se naermere på dem som oppsøker spesialisthelsetjenestene på grunn av angst og depresjon, og som har vaert utsatt for mobbing i arbeidslivet (se tekstboks 1). Prosjektet er finansiert av UiB og Norges forskningsråds Toppforsk-prosjekt Workplace bullying: From mechanisms and moderators to problem treatment (UiB og NFR -250127).…”

“…Vi fant at mobbeofrene hadde alvorlige psykiske og psykosomatiske helseplager, og at mer enn dobbelt så mange av dem var fulltidssykemeldt sammenlignet med pasientene som ikke hadde opplevd mobbing. Videre så vi redusert symptomtrykk etter at pasientene fikk metakognitiv eller kognitiv atferdsterapi kombinert med en jobbfokusert intervensjon (Aarestad et al, 2022). Behandlingen hadde også en positiv effekt på økt arbeidsdeltakelse, men det var betydelig faerre blant de mobbede som kom tilbake i full jobb i løpet av behandlingen (se tekstboks 2).…”