Overcoming Mobbing: A Recovery Guide for Workplace Aggression and Bullying

Maureen Duffy Ph.D. · Len Sperry Ph.D.

Dec 2013 · Oxford University Press

About this ebook

Research shows that as many as 37% of American workers have experienced workplace abuse at some time in their working lives. Mobbing, a form of abuse in which individuals, groups, or organizations target a single person for ridicule, humiliation, and removal from the workplace, can lead to deteriorating physical and mental health, violence, and even suicide. Overcoming Mobbing is an informative, comprehensive guidebook written for the victims of mobbing and their families. In an engaging and reader-friendly style, mobbing experts Maureen Duffy and Len Sperry help readers to make sense of the experience and mobilize resources for recovery. The authors distinguish mobbing from bullying-in that it takes place within organizational or institutional settings-and demonstrate how mobbing is not about the occasional negative experience at work; rather, mobbing involves ongoing negative acts, both overt and covert, that over time erode workers' confidence in themselves and in their workplaces. Demystifying the experience of mobbing through the use of examples and case studies, Overcoming Mobbing provides effective strategies for recovery from mobbing as well as for prevention. More than a simple self-help book, this guide offers a detailed presentation of the causes and consequences of mobbing, helps readers avoid falling into the trap of misplacing blame, and holds organizations at the center of responsibility for preventing this devastating type of abuse. In addition to those who have experienced mobbing, this book is an invaluable resource for workplace managers and human resources personnel who wish to prevent or reverse mobbing within their own professional settings.

About the author

Maureen Duffy, PhD, is a practicing family therapist and consultant specializing in workplace and school mobbing and bullying issues and an Affiliate with the Qualitative Research Graduate Program at Nova Southeastern University She provides trauma-informed psychotherapy to targets of mobbing and bullying and their families and consultation and training on workplace abuse to stakeholders including human resource managers and attorneys. She is the coauthor of Mobbing: Causes, Consequences, and Solutions. Len Sperry, MD, PhD, is Professor of Mental Health Counseling at Florida Atlantic University and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the Medical College of Wisconsin. He has provided psychotherapy to mobbing victims and consulted with corporations on mobbing and bullying. He is the coauthor of Mobbing: Causes, Consequences, and Solutions.