Bullying at work leads to significant emotional pain, activating the same brain areas as physical injury. Victims face intense suffering due to the nature of moral injuries and institutional betrayal resulting from organizations' inaction. Social exclusion is particularly harmful, striking deep at the core need for belonging. Targets of bullying often possess traits that challenge the status quo, including intellectual curiosity and a strong moral compass, but these same qualities make them vulnerable in dysfunctional cultures.
The need for connection is evolutionary. Traveling in packs offered physical protection and emotional support. Ostracism threatens belonging more clearly and more strongly than other unpleasant social responses.
The hurt stems from a cyclical unfolding within a dysfunctional work culture that shatters targets' assumptions about the world and themselves, resulting in a moral injury, unseen but felt.
Targets of workplace bullying share common characteristics. They tend to be intellectually curious, experts in their fields, and possess a strong sense of self.
The targets’ propensity to recalibrate the status quo makes them threats to dysfunctional cultures, despite their admirable characteristics.
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