>> Work Place

Work Place disharmony “I hate my job!” I'm sure you've uttered these very words on more than one occasion!!!
Are you suffering from bullying, harassment, aggression, cruelty, viciousness, stalking, intimidation, depression, stress in the work place? Do you work in a toxic workplace? Your culture is a result of the values, experiences, and behaviours shared by your colleagues.

Remember YOU have a choice

 

You can learn the art of self-hypnosis, enabling you to become more relaxed and calm and to take control of, and deal with your stress etc.

Don’t let the stress of the job get you down. Learn to manage stress, to cope with stressful situations that may arise in your life. Stress in the work place is increasing at an alarming rate, which arises when the demands and expectations on a person exceeds their capacity to meet the expectations. Some stressful situations in the work place may involve an intimate working relationship, lack of control. Stress leads to emotional and psychological, physical, distorted cognitive thinking and fatigue lack of job satisfaction, substance abuse, anxiety, depression, irritability, bullying and harassment. Stress is on everyone's mind these days. However, whilst almost everyone seems to feel "stressed", most people are unaware that stress comes in two forms - positive and negative.

is the result of good management and excellent leadership, where everyone works hard, is kept informed and involved, and – more importantly - is valued and supported. People then feel more in control of their lives.

is the result of a bullying climate where threats and coercion substitute for non-existent management skills. When people use the word "stress" on its own, they usually mean "negative stress".

‘The Silent Epidemic’: Work place bullying is continued and deliberate unfair, unjust or abusive treatment / aggression of an individual at work by one or more co-workers, supervisors, managers or customers. Bullying leads to increased stress, accidents, low motivation, making mistakes, loss of confidence, low self – esteem which leads to illness and increased absenteeism.

Warning, these are the signs of a toxic workplace.

The “bully” needs to be challenged, helped and re-empowered. These health-endangering types of violating people compromise the targeted individuals physical and psychological health, disrupt their careers, and adversely affect their families. Employers suffer, too. The truth is that “bullies” are too expensive to keep.

The stalker exhibits a familiar pattern of behaviour. Stalking often starts as a result of rejection, rage or abandonment. This in turn motivates the stalker to seek revenge. The stalker, usually a loner and socially inept, becomes obsessed with their target and bombards them with messages, emails, gifts, or abuse. The stalking behaviour can last for years and the intensity of abuse increases over time. The abuse, initially consisting of psychological violence, often escalates and culminates in physical violence.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a natural emotional reaction to a deeply shocking and disturbing experience. It is a normal reaction to an abnormal situation, e.g. resulting from accident, disaster, bank robberies, hold ups, bomb threats, war, terrorism, torture, and grief etc. There is growing recognition that Post Traumatic Stress Disorder can result from many types of shocking experiences including an accumulation of small, individually non-life-threatening events in which case the resultant PTSD is referred to as Complex PTSD.
Symptoms that last for over one month are classed as PTSD. Common symptoms, hyper vigilance (feels like but is not paranoid) exaggerated startle response, irritability, sudden angry or violent outbursts, flashbacks, nightmares, intrusive recollections, replay triggers, sleep disturbance, exhaustion and chronic fatigue, reactive depression, guilt, feelings of detachment, avoidance behaviours, nervousness, or anxiety.
People may also develop phobias about specific daily routines, events or objects, irrational or impulsive behaviour, loss of interest, loss of ambition, anhedonia (inability to feel joy and pleasure) poor concentration, impaired memory, joint pains, muscle pains, emotional numbness, physical numbness, low self-esteem etc.

The word "breakdown" is often used to describe the mental collapse of someone who has been under intolerable strain. There is usually an (inappropriate) inference of "mental illness". All these are lay terms and mean different things to different people.

• Nervous breakdown or mental breakdown is a consequence of mental illness.
• Stress breakdown is a psychiatric injury, which is a normal reaction to an abnormal situation.

The two types of breakdown are distinct and should not be confused. A stress breakdown is a natural and normal conclusion to a period of prolonged negative stress; the body is saying "I'm not designed to operate under these conditions of prolonged negative stress so I am going to do something dramatic” ensuring that you reduce or eliminate the stress otherwise your body may suffer irreparable damage; you must take action now. A stress breakdown is often predictable, days or weeks in advance. The person's fear, fragility, obsessive-ness, hyper-vigilanceand hypersensitivity can combine to evolve into paranoia. If this happens, a stress breakdown is only days or even hours away and the person needs urgent medical help. The risk of suicide at this point is heightened. Often the cause of negative stress in an organisation can be traced to the behaviour of one individual. The profile of this individual is that of a bully. I believe bullying is the main - but least recognised - cause of negative stress inthe workplace today.