08. I was a victim of mobbing

I experienced workplace harassment while working in one of the country’s largest banks. The harassment directed against me lasted for sixteen months. After its completion, while continuing to work for the same company, other dramatic events that were the direct consequences of the bullying occurred. At the time, I was unaware that the behaviors towards me were typical of the psychological phenomenon of workplace harassment, also known as mobbing.

One time, quite by accident, I came upon a publication on bullying and the work of Prof. Heinz Leymann posted on a Swedish website. I noticed that the experiences of victims of workplace harassment as well as the consequences were similar to those I had experienced personally.

Since then I began to become more interested in the phenomenon of bullying in the workplace. Based on available published sources, I confronted my own experiences with the described manifestations and consequences of bullying. As a result, I came to the conclusion that for many months I was a victim of bullying, as well as a witness of workplace harassment directed at my coworkers.

While leaving the headquarters of my former job on the date of the termination of my employment, I was extremely exhausted, mentally and physically. It seemed as if my life hung “in the balance.” After two years of constant work and stress I was not able to continue working and lead a normal life.

The past few years was a time of fighting diseases and ailments, a time of struggle with financial difficulties and lack of work, while at the same time, a period of returning to health and strength. It was a tedious process of returning to a normal life and work.

Currently I live and work normally. My health is good, I have a job and gradually the effects of the bullying which I experienced have ceased to have an impact on my life.

I hesitated for a long time before deciding to describe my experiences with bullying. This was because this involved revisiting the most tragic period on my life and reliving painful events, opening old wounds and talking about things which were very difficult and painful for me.

However, deep down I was and am convinced that as a person who has directly experienced bullying I have a moral duty and right to speak of the evil, which psychological abuse in the workplace is. I think that you cannot stay silent against the wave of evil posed by bullying and the immensity of its devastating effects: misery, suffering, pain, despair, disease, all sorts of ailments, including psychological and physical disorders, material and financial ruin, and its other dramatic consequences.

All the events associated with bullying, including severe and long-term illness, came as a surprise and an unexpected twist in my life. At the time I would consider the meaning of my suffering and illness and ask why I was going through so much pain. Why was I severely ill with serious ailments? For the longest time I could not understand the point of my suffering. I felt powerless against the evil, with which I fought every day, and the scope of the physical ailments I had to deal with.

After many years I wish to emphasize:

Only in the light of faith can one grasp the essence of sustained suffering, and then suffering coupled with faith makes sense. Only faith can give us the strength to rise from the greatest of difficulties.

The sense of my suffering is that I can speak out against the great evil of bullying in the workplace, through which – thank God, I returned to a normal life and work.