Workplace bullying has been shown to increase the incidents of physical and psychological harm to the health of people targeted by this behaviour.
Physical harm includes an increased risk of serious cardiovascular and cerebrovascular conditions (1), and psychological conditions such as anxiety and depression arising from the increased negative emotions and stress.
What happens to the brain of someone targeted by a perpetrator who decides to engage in this unnecessary, unkind and unpleasant behaviour?
Can people who’ve been targeted by bullies learn to recover their confidence and self-esteem, after suffering the harm caused by the behaviour they’ve been subjected to?
What does neuroscience tell us about the way the brain learns, and how this contributes to both the harm being caused, and the potential for its recovery?
Dr. Jennifer Fraser sought to answer these kind of questions when she studied the neuroscience behind bullying for her book The Bullied Brain.
In this episode, she talks about the impacts on the brain, the harm caused by bullying, and how the brain's mechanisms for learning and recovery provide hope for the future to those who've been affected.
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How bullying affects the brain
In The Bullied Brain, Jen Fraser describes that bullying isn't just about the psychological impacts on people's emotions, but that neuroscience shows physical changes can be seen in those exposed to bullying.
Brain scans reveal physical scars in the brains of those affected, in the same way that we know X-rays reveal the harm caused to people's lungs by smoking.
Jen talks about the brain's requirements for human connection to grow and develop, and the way in which bullying behaviour perpetrated against targets acts to deny people connection. This is harmful to brain development, reflecting the psychological impacts observed in targets who experience bullying.
The brain utterly depends on co-creating reality with other human beings, and it needs community...
Bullying means the brain works in 'survival mode'
The way the brain responds instinctively to threats is an area of the conversation that we explore in this episode, as it underpins much of the behaviour experienced by people on all sides of workplace bullying incidents.
For the target, the brain's natural response to reduce harm is a response to the traumatic shock of being exposed to bullying, in an environment that is unexpected.
Jen discusses how this affects the behaviour, including an analysis of why bullying targets are, in effect, suffering from Stockholm Syndrome in the way their brain responds to the threat from the bully.
We also discuss how the brain's propensity for self-preservation explains the extent of isolation experienced by bullying targets, as witnesses and bystanders themselves react in a defensive manner and fail to support targets.
Jen explains the role that a target's own "mind bully" plays in reinforcing the harm caused by the bully, as the brain adapts to believe the falsehoods that a target of bullying is exposed to.
She discusses the way in which her research in the book provides people with a way to tackle this unhelpful internal language, with techniques such as cognitive-behavioural therapy and journaling.
Hope for the future
As part of the discussion about how organisational processes need to change, if workplace bullying is to be effectively tackled, Jen talks about how the brain's neuroplasticity - its ability to re-learn and heal itself - provides hope for change.
She explains how the book provides people affected with techniques to rebuild their self-esteem and confidence, and overcome the harm caused by their perpetrators and their own "mind bully."
We also discussed whether or not the perpetrators of workplace bullying are able to learn to change their ways, and how the brain's structures means that it's possible (for those willing to change) to do so.
However, Jen highlights the challenges facing organisations in dealing with leaders who have the characteristics of the 'dark triad' of machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy.
That's a topic in itself that'll be coming up in a future episode!
The Gaslit Brain
Jen's not finished with her investigations into the impact that bullying has on the brain, and she's been working on a new project for 2025 with her forthcoming book, The Gaslit Brain.
She gives listeners a preview of what will be in her new book, and she'll be back in a future episode in 2025 to talk about this exciting new project in more depth.
Lessons to learn from Jen Fraser
Jen Fraser closed our discussion with a fundamental question about workplace bullying:
“Why do institutions join in to protect the perpetrator and not the victim?”
It’s a particularly important question given the extent of physical harm to the brain caused by bullying that we’ve heard can be seen on brain scans.
In this episode, we’ve heard about:
- the way the brain learns through reinforcement
- how those mechanisms can make people susceptible to bullying by those who wish to perpetrate harm; and
- how the brain’s neuroplasticity can aid in recovery.
Organisations that are serious about preventing harm, cleaning up a historically toxic workplace culture, and supporting those who do experience bullying have much to learn from the insights provided in Jen Fraser’s book.
They'll understand the need for individual psychological support, not ‘tick box’ approaches to counselling.
They’ll help everyone affected to get the support they need to re-train their brain and unlearn the harmful behaviour that they’ve been exposed to.
They’ll work with perpetrators to change their behaviour, and get the help they need to understand the harm they’re causing to others, and prevent it happening again, rather than suppressing the problem by removing or silencing the complainants.
If you’ve been affected by workplace incivility, bullying or harassment, The Bullied Brain is a book that helps you make sense of what you’ve gone through.
It teaches you why your own brain may have been trained by the perpetrator to act as a “mind bully” that’s still working against you.
Most importantly, it shows you that a path to recovering some sense of your own agency is possible.
That with time, exercise and support, you can train your “mind bully” to be an advocate that believes in your own unique talents and skills, and recognising that it’s the perpetrators and their supporters who are the ones that really need the most help.
Chapter markers
| Time code | Content |
|---|---|
| 00:00 | Introduction |
| 02:55 | Why did Jen write “The Bullied Brain”? |
| 04:40 | Bullying’s impacts on the brain |
| 08:55 | The brain’s response to physical pain and bullying |
| 10:31 | Personality characteristics - bullies and targets |
| 14:59 | Brain development, learning and harmful behaviour |
| 18:49 | Learned helplessness and tackling your ‘mind bully’ |
| 25:31 | Shifting the process focus from targets to perpetrators |
| 31:28 | Stockholm Syndrome - why this affects bullying targets |
| 37:20 | A culture of accountability supports kindness by default |
| 41:23 | Hope for the future: Brain neuroplasticity and re-training |
| 49:48 | Gaslighting and “The Gaslit Brain” book |
| 54:19 | Dr. Jen Fraser’s contact details |
| 56:41 | Lessons for organisations and individuals to learn |
Links
- Purchase The Bullied Brain on Amazon (affiliate link)
- Dr. Jennifer Fraser’s website
- Connect with Jen on LinkedIn
- Read Jen's blog, The Bullied Brain, in Psychology Today.
- Exercise your brain with BrainHQ training from Dr. Michael Merzenich
References
(1) Xu, T. et al. (2019) ‘Workplace bullying and workplace violence as risk factors for cardiovascular disease: a multi-cohort study’, European Heart Journal, 40(14), pp. 1124–1134.