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Occupational Medicine Advance Access originally published online on January 18, 2008
Occupational Medicine 2008 58(2):122-128; doi:10.1093/occmed/kqm148
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Occupational Medicine. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Psychopathological features of a patient population of targets of workplace bullying

Georges Brousse1,2, Luc Fontana3,4, Lemlih Ouchchane2,5, Caroline Boisson3, Laurent Gerbaud2,5, Delphine Bourguet1, Annick Perrier3, Audrey Schmitt6, Pierre Michel Llorca2,6 and Alain Chamoux3,4

1 CHU Clermont Ferrand, Pôle Urgences, Clermont-Ferrand, F63001 France
2 Univ Clermont 1, UFR médecine, EA 3845, Clermont-Ferrand, F63001 France
3 CHU Clermont Ferrand, Service de Médecine du travail et de pathologie professionnelle, Clermont-Ferrand, F63001 France
4 Univ Clermont 1, UFR médecine, Institut de médecine du travail, Clermont-Ferrand, F63001 France
5 CHU Clermont Ferrand, Service d'épidémiologie, économie de santé et de prévention, Clermont-Ferrand, F63001 France
6 CHU Clermont Ferrand, Service de psychiatrie B, Clermont-Ferrand, F63001 France

Background A strong association between workplace bullying and subsequent anxiety and depression, indicated by empirical research, suggests that bullying is an aetiological factor for mental health problems.

Aims To evaluate levels of stress and anxiety–depression disorder developed by targets of workplace bullying together with outcome at 12 months and to characterize this population in terms of psychopathology and sociodemographic features.

Methods Forty-eight patients (36 women and 12 men) meeting Leymann Inventory of Psychological Terror criteria for bullying were included in a prospective study. Evaluations were performed at first consultation and at 12 months using a standard clinical interview, a visual analogue scale of stress, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression (HAD) scale, the Beech scale of stress in the workplace and a projective test (Picture-Frustration Study).

Results At first consultation, 81% of patients showed high levels of perceived stress at work and 83 and 52% presented with anxiety or depression, respectively. At 12 months, only 19% of working patients expressed a feeling of stress at work. There was a significant change in symptoms of anxiety while there was no change in symptoms of depression. Stress at work and depression influenced significatively capacity to go back to work. At 12-month assessments, workers showed a significantly better score on the HAD scale than non-workers. Over half the targets presented a neuroticism-related predominant personality trait.

Conclusion Workplace bullying can have severe mental health repercussions, triggering serious and persistent underlying disorders.

Keywords      Anxiety; bullying; depression; neuroticism; stress; workplace

Correspondence to: Georges Brousse, Université Clermont 1, Faculté de Médecine, CHU Clermont Ferrand, Unité Urgences Psychiatriques et Psychotrauma, 28, place Henri Dunant-BP 69, 63003 Clermont-Ferrand Cedex 01, France. Tel: +33 4 73 754 785; fax: +33 4 73 754 781; e-mail: gbrousse{at}chu-clermontferrand.fr


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