Psychological harassment is a form of violence that can occur in various settings, such as at work, at school, within the family, or in personal relationships. It is characterized by repetitive and hostile behaviors aimed at intimidating, humiliating, embarrassing, or manipulating the victim. There are several types of psychological harassment, such as moral, sexual, and institutional, among others, each with its own particularities. The profiles of the perpetrators can also vary, from authoritarian and manipulative individuals to those who have difficulty managing their emotions and end up taking it out on others. It is important to identify and report psychological harassment so that the victim can receive support and the perpetrator can be held accountable for their actions.
Types of psychological harassment: learn about the different forms of emotional violence in the workplace.
Psychological harassment in the workplace is a form of emotional violence that can occur in a variety of ways. Understanding the different types of psychological harassment is essential to identifying and combating this harmful practice.
One of the most common types of psychological harassment is workplace harassment , characterized by humiliation, intimidation, verbal abuse, and belittling gestures from a superior or coworker. This type of harassment can create a hostile environment and harm an individual's mental health.
Another type of psychological harassment is sexual harassment , which involves unwanted advances, innuendo, indecent proposals, and any form of sexual coercion. This type of harassment is more common in environments where there is an imbalance of power between the parties involved.
Furthermore, mobbing is a form of psychological harassment characterized by repetitive and prolonged acts of intimidation, persecution, and exclusion in the workplace. This type of harassment can lead to social exclusion and isolation of the individual in the professional environment.
It's important to be aware of the signs of psychological harassment in the workplace and seek help if you're a victim of this practice. Combating psychological harassment is everyone's responsibility, and together we can create a healthier and more respectful work environment for everyone.
Profile of the psychological aggressor: characteristics and behaviors that reveal their true nature.
The psychological abuser's profile is made up of several characteristics and behaviors that reveal their true nature. Generally, this type of abuser seeks to exert control and power over the victim, manipulating them emotionally and undermining their self-esteem.
One of the main traits of a psychological abuser is a lack of empathy, the inability to put oneself in another's shoes and understand their feelings. They tend to devalue the victim's feelings and ignore their needs, prioritizing only their own interests.
Furthermore, psychological abusers are often manipulative and controlling , using subtle tactics to exert their power over the victim. They may resort to emotional blackmail, public humiliation, and veiled threats to maintain control of the situation.
Another common characteristic of the psychological abuser is a lack of responsibility for their actions. They tend to blame the victim for their own violence and refuse to take responsibility for their actions, always seeking to justify their destructive behaviors.
Identifying these characteristics and behaviors is essential to prevent and combat psychological harassment.
Learn about the different types of psychological abuse and their consequences for emotional well-being.
Psychological harassment is a form of abuse that can have serious consequences for the emotional well-being of those targeted. There are different types of psychological abuse, each with its own characteristics and impacts.
One of the most common types of psychological abuse is intimidation, which involves the use of threats, insults, and humiliation to control and manipulate the victim. This type of behavior can cause significant damage to the self-esteem and self-confidence of the person being harassed, leading to feelings of fear, anxiety, and depression.
Another type of psychological abuse is emotional manipulation, where the abuser uses devices such as emotional blackmail, guilt, and manipulation to get what they want from the victim. This can result in feelings of confusion, helplessness, and despair in the person being manipulated, affecting their ability to make decisions and relate healthily to others.
Furthermore, social isolation is another form of psychological abuse that can have devastating impacts on the victim's emotional well-being. The abuser may try to alienate the victim from their friends and family, creating an emotional dependence that makes them more vulnerable and susceptible to their control.
The consequences of this type of behavior on the emotional well-being of the affected person can be devastating, leading to problems such as anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, and relationship difficulties.
Learn about the four most common types of harassment today.
Psychological harassment is a form of violence that can occur in various settings, such as at work, at school, or even at home. It's important to understand the different types of psychological harassment to identify and combat this type of violence. There are four types of harassment that are most common today: moral, sexual, institutional, and organizational.
Moral harassment occurs when a person is exposed to humiliating and embarrassing situations repeatedly and for a prolonged period. This can cause emotional and psychological damage, affecting the victim's mental health. Sexual harassment, on the other hand, consists of sexual advances, innuendos, or gestures that are made in an invasive and non-consensual manner. This type of harassment is considered a crime and must be reported.
Institutional harassment occurs when an institution or organization allows or tolerates abusive practices that harm its employees. This can include discrimination, harassment, or intimidation in the workplace. Finally, organizational harassment occurs when a person is pressured or coerced into adopting certain behavior, often contrary to their values and principles.
It's crucial to be aware of the signs of psychological harassment and report any type of abusive practice. It's important to promote a safe and healthy environment where dignity and respect are upheld. We cannot tolerate any type of violence, whether physical, verbal, or psychological. Together, we can combat harassment and promote healthier, more harmonious relationships in our society.
Psychological harassment: characteristics, types and profiles
Mobbing , also known as bullying, refers to a type of personal treatment that is humiliating and inconsiderate, mentally harming the person who suffers from it. In order to speak of psychological harassment, it is necessary that the person practicing it does so in a way that psychologically destabilizes the other person.
This type of abuse is characterized by violating the dignity and moral integrity of the person and involves psychological abuse and emotional abuse. The main reason why this type of treatment is called psychological harassment is that it always involves the carrying out of psychological abuse and emotional abuse towards the person.
Currently, different types of psychological harassment have been established, such as workplace harassment, sexual harassment, school harassment, cyberbullying, and family harassment. Each of these is characterized by its specific context and terms.
Definition of psychological harassment
Psychological harassment is a humiliating and disqualifying treatment of a person, designed to destabilize them psychologically. This treatment constitutes a series of acts and behaviors by a person that directly threaten the dignity and moral integrity of another individual.
Thus, psychological harassment forms a long process in which the person, being progressively subjected to uncertainty and helplessness, loses their self-esteem and self-confidence.
According to several authors, one of the most important elements about the harassed person is that they are usually not fully aware of being humiliated and violated; therefore, they usually do not adopt a confrontational attitude towards the harasser.
The term was coined by zoologist Konrad Lorenz, who observed group harassment in some wildlife species. He called this behavior "bullying."
Later, psychologist Heinz Lyeman devoted himself to studying group harassment and its traumatic psychosomatic effects in the workplace. His work resulted in the introduction of a new meaning for bullying: moral harassment.
In the case of human beings, harassment or harassment is called moral harassment, which can lead to psychological violence and physical violence.
However, psychiatrist Marie-France Hirigoyen considered that the most serious cases of harassment should be referred to as psychological harassment, a term that has been extended in recent years to refer to abusive situations and behaviors.
Features
Psychological harassment has a set of circumstances that can occur in different types of contexts and are characterized by:
- Execution of behaviors of extreme psychological violence.
- Exercise these behaviors systematically and continuously.
- Performing abusive behavior on another person or a specific group of people.
- Psychological harassment is always carried out by a specific person or group of people.
- Abusive and psychologically violent behaviors are carried out for a prolonged period exceeding six months.
- Abusive behaviors are carried out in a specific environment (work, family, school, etc.).
Effect on the victim
Thus, psychological harassment is characterized by a range of abusive attitudes and behaviors toward another person. Such harassing behaviors are carried out with the aim of producing a direct effect on the victim. Typically, the effects sought are the psychological exhaustion and subjugation of the person.
Subtle harassment
Harassment techniques are characterized by being subtly hidden and subtle. The use of certain words, looks, insinuations, lies, or defamation are the most common behaviors in this type of violence.
Impose will
The stalker's goal is to impose their will continuously and progressively. Through their behavior, they intend to distort the situation from a position of strength and motivate the accused person's submission.
Depression in the victim
Bullying plunges the victim into a spiral of depression that, in some cases, can lead to self-harm or suicide. According to psychiatrist Marie-France Hirigoyen, extreme cases of bullying can be interpreted as psychic murder.
Initially, harassment begins to destabilize the victim until they gradually lose trust in themselves and others. Thus, the goal of psychological harassment is to create a situation of total helplessness for the harassed.
Anxiety and tension
Likewise, the process of psychological harassment is characterized by initially causing anxiety and tension in the victim, a fact that motivates the appearance of a defensive attitude.
This attitude of the harassed person often motivates new subtle aggressions, so that the aggressor's goal is not to destroy his victim immediately, but to subdue and control him over time.
Types of psychological harassment
Psychological harassment occurs in a variety of contexts. It can be perpetrated by both adults and children and/or adolescents.
Currently, different types of psychological harassment have been established due to the differentiating elements that this type of behavior presents in different contexts of action.
The main types of psychological harassment are: workplace bullying, sexual harassment, bullying, cyberbullying, school cyberbullying, real estate bullying, and family bullying.
Workplace harassment
Workplace harassment, commonly known by the English term “monbing”, constitutes a series of actions carried out by a harasser or several harassers against a victim or a group of victims.
The actions of stalkers are characterized by their aim to produce fear, terror, contempt or discouragement in the other person in the workplace, thus affecting their performance and professional situation.
Harassing behaviors at work are carried out in a completely unjustified manner and are not related to job objectives or requirements; therefore, the job name is used only to refer to the context in which abusive behaviors occur.
The main behaviors practiced in workplace harassment are:
- Shout, oppress, or insult the victim when they are alone.
- Assign goals or projects with inaccessible deadlines.
- Selectively overload the victim with too much work.
- Threatens continuously.
- Remove key areas of responsibility.
- Treat you in a discriminatory manner.
- Ignore it and delete it systematically.
- Save crucial information for your work.
- Defame the victim by spreading rumors throughout the company.
- It doesn't even appreciate the effort made by the victim.
You may also be interested in Complaining about workplace harassment: when and how to do it.
Sexual harassment
Sexual harassment refers to a range of intimidating or sexually coercive attitudes and behaviors, as well as the unwanted or inappropriate promise of rewards in exchange for sexual favors.
This type of behavior is illegal in most legal contexts and can affect people of both sexes.
However, statistically, most cases of sexual harassment involve women. Similarly, the main perpetrators are men, who engage in this type of behavior in the workplace, academically, or even at home.
Bullying
Bullying refers to any form of psychological, verbal, or physical abuse that occurs among school-age children. These abusive behaviors are carried out repeatedly over a period of time, both inside and outside the classroom.
In this case, the dominant type of violence is emotional and generally originates mainly in the classroom and on school playgrounds.
The perpetrators of this type of situation are usually boys and girls entering adolescence. Similarly, the victim profile is generally much more prevalent among girls than boys.
You may be interested in the 7 most common types of bullying or 9 serious consequences of bullying in children (and adults).
Cyberbullying
Cyberbullying, also known as virtual harassment or cyberbullying, refers to abusive and restrictive behaviors that are carried out through digital media.
The general characteristics of these behaviors are similar to those of other types of harassment. In fact, cases of workplace bullying or bullying can incorporate cyberbullying into their practice.
The main characteristic of cyberbullying is that it allows abusive behavior to be perpetrated on the victim at virtually any time and in any situation, thus increasing its severity and harmful effects on the victim.
Through the use of digital communication, the stalker is able to "attack their victim," even when they are not in physical contact with them. The main behaviors associated with cyberbullying are:
- False accusation: damaging the victim's reputation on social media through manipulation.
- Posting false information about the victim on websites.
- Collecting information about the victim.
- Monitoring victim activities.
- Expression of insults and threats through websites.
- Hygiene
School cyberbullying
School cyberbullying is the most common type of cyberbullying and is characterized by the use of media to harass a person in the school environment.
This practice is carried out to a greater extent by teenagers or pre-teens and is usually fueled by “non-cyber bullying”.
Real estate harassment
Real estate harassment involves engaging in harassment to deprive oneself of the right to enjoy a rented home or property. The goal of this type of behavior is tortuous enrichment.
The main actions of this type of harassment are characterized by creating a hostile environment at home, whether in the material, personal or social aspect, with the ultimate goal of forcing the person to adopt an unwanted decision to protect the right to occupy the house.
This type of harassment is often associated with neighborhood harassment, although in the latter type of harassment the goal is not tactical enrichment but rather the victim's abandonment of the home.
Family harassment
Finally, family harassment refers to bullying behaviors and behaviors that occur within the family environment between members of the same family.
Profiles
Profile of those harassed
In general, it is argued that there is no specific profile of harassment victims. They can be men and women of different ages, statuses, and personal characteristics.
However, statistically, women have been shown to experience much higher rates of bullying than men. Similarly, certain age groups, such as adolescence and pre-adolescence, also appear to have higher rates of psychological harassment.
Regarding personality traits, several characteristics have been postulated that could be related to victims of bullying. The main ones are:
- They are able to form their own opinion without cloning it or appropriating the opinions of others.
- They are able to question opinions and judgments.
- They may exhibit some social isolation.
- They may lack social defense.
- They are autonomous, independent and proactive people.
- They can be overly naive and/or trusting on occasion.
- They may have depressive traits.
Stalker Profile
Regarding the stalker's profile, certain characteristics have already been described. In general, narcissistic and paranoid personality traits are those most strongly associated with psychological stalkers.
Similarly, the following psychological mechanisms are also generally observed in a large proportion of cases:
- Persecutors perceive victims as the embodiment of the qualities they are trying to appropriate rather than as people, and in some cases they may have an inferiority complex because they lack these qualities.
- The stalker's behavior tends to be an attempt to cover up or camouflage his own shortcomings.
- Stalkers tend to be competitive, controlling, manipulative, and seductive people.
- Pursuers often exhibit a mental and behavioral schema in terms of dominance submission.
References
- Moral harassment at work: a guide to prevention and action against moral harassment. Lettera Publicaciones, SL 2006.
- Crespo Hervás, Dolores; González Lucas, Raúl; Pando González, Fuencisla (2007) Bullying: moral harassment (school in childhood and adolescence): implications for doctors. Ergón Creation, S.A.
- Levinson, Edward M.; Levinson, Edward M. (2004). »Assessing Bullying: A Review of Methods and Instruments«. Journal of Counseling and Development. American Counseling Association. 82 (4): 496–503.
- Joseph Bolton; Stan Graeve (2005). No Room for Bullies: From the Classroom to Cyberspace. Boys Town Press ISBN 978-1-889322-67-4. Page visited on 2013-10-29.
- Rodríguez López, Teresa, 2006. Moral harassment, moral harassment. Editorial Theory CEP, SL
- Vanderbilt, Douglas; Augustyn, Marilyn (2010). »The Effects of Bullying». Pediatrics and Child Health. 20 (7): 315-320.
- Witted, Kathryn Suzanne (2005), »Student Reports of Physical and Psychological Abuse in Schools: An Underexplored Aspect of Student Victimization in Schools», doctoral dissertation, University of Tennessee, retrieved 2013-10-29