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Sustained bullying often triggers various mental health disorders for the victims. These can result in significant issues for the future of the victims. No child deserves this. That is one of the main reasons why bullying must be prevented.

The main purpose of bullying is to exert control over another individual, and in the process, make that individual feel horrible about himself or herself. Especially when a person is being bullied with a number of bystanders watching and laughing, it has a significant negative impact on the victim’s self-esteem. If this kind of blow to the self-esteem happens on a regular basis, then it is easy to see why and how this can trigger mental health disorders for the victims.

Now that I have spoken at numerous events in different states around the country, I have had the opportunity to meet many victims of childhood bullying. In a significant number of cases, the victims have described having to deal with severe mental health disorders triggered because of being bullied. And often it changes the course of a person’s life like it did in my case. I have met some grown-up adults, in their forties or fifties, still feeling the negative impact of childhood bullying.

More and more schools are providing appropriate trainings to their staff members about this matter. This is extremely important because some of these mental health disorders can start impacting children at a very young age. If school staff are appropriately trained, then it is possible that they might be able to detect some of these issues while the victims are still young. If these children are treated properly at an early age, we can hope that the negative impact on their lives will not be as significant.

There are times when employees have to deal with some stressful situations at their workplaces just because of the kind of work they do. They do not need any additional bullying and/or harassment from their managers or supervisors.

Most employees face some level of stress almost every day as they carry out their day-to-day activities at the workplace. Whether one is working in a restaurant or in a department store or in a hospital or in a bank or whatever the workplace might be, there is always some level of stress that one has to deal with on a regular basis. That is part of the job. The stress levels are of course different depending on the work setting and the level of a person’s position at the workplace, but no matter what, everyone faces some level of work stress on a regular basis. That is why it is important that there are no other additional stresses imposed on the employees.

In fact, it is a manager’s or a supervisor’s responsibility to make sure that they are providing the appropriate level of support to the employees so they are able to manage their work stress. Instead, if the employees receive bullying and/or harassment from their managers and supervisors, it only adds to the employees’ stress level. These situations will most likely lead to significant personal issues for the employees, specifically in terms of their mental health.

In summary, it is important for all managers and supervisors to understand that it is their responsibility to maintain a positive and supportive workplace so the employees can perform their tasks with minimum amount of stress.

Whenever I make a presentation based on my first book I get an opportunity to focus on both anti-bullying as well as mental health issues. I found it very effective in removing mental health stigma especially for school age children, which I believe is very important.

During the presentation I talk about my struggle with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and how I persevered to take back control of my life. Here are some of the facts I talk about:

• My most crippling OCD symptoms consisted of my mentally picturing images of bullies who had tormented me in the past. These images would soon become further attached with an unspeakable irrational fear… that they would force me to hurt my loved ones if the images were not ‘neutralized.’

• For the first five years of my mental illness, my single greatest struggle and obstacle became simply telling someone what was going on. However, I was finally able to discuss this openly and got started with the therapy and medication that I needed to defeat OCD.  At last, I was able to change my pessimistic perspective, willingly engage in cognitive behavioral therapy and begin to make significant progress with my illness.  Eventually, I was able to derive a lasting positive impact after spending only 16 days in Rogers inpatient treatment facility.

• Today, I am thrilled to report that I have finally regained control over my once ever so incapacitating mental illness! Though my ordeal has now reached this much better point, there are millions of others out there who continue to struggle hard with similar issues on a daily basis. I am here to tell those fellow sufferers that this does not have to be their long-term fate. Just as I took back control of my life, they too are capable of freeing themselves from the powerful clutches of this or similar mental health issues.

Owners and managers who bully and harass their employees at work, have convinced themselves that there is no other way to get their employees to work their hardest. They need to understand that there are better ways to motivate employees for optimum performance.

In the true story I describe in my book titled “How to stand up to workplace bullying and take on an unjust employer”, it appeared to me that my supervisor simply did not seem to know of any other way of supervising. I felt that she was yelling at me whenever she was trying to talk to me about anything. Whenever she talked to me I felt that I was doing something wrong even when I knew for sure that I was not doing anything wrong. For some reasons she had accepted this notion that in order to supervise employees, she needed to yell almost all the time.

Organizations need to provide appropriate training to these managers and supervisors so they can maintain a positive and rewarding environment. And if, after appropriate training, some managers and supervisors are not able to change their approach, then they need to be removed from supervisory positions and placed in other non-supervisory positions. These are the two steps many organizations are not able to take. They often don’t provide appropriate training, or they do not try to find appropriate non-supervisory positions for the people who are not able to change their harassing and yelling approach even after receiving proper training. It is important for all organizations to keep in mind that maintaining a bully-free atmosphere is a key to overall success.

Sometime back I was honored to have received an invitation to speak at an event organized by the AshaUSA organization (ashausa.org), in Edina, MN. The topic was “Being Brown in America”, based on my first book about impact of bias-based bullying on mental health.

As per their website,  “AshaUSA is a non-profit organization focused on creating healthy, happy, and harmonious South Asian communities by engaging and empowering South Asian women, men, and children through culturally specific programs and services.With the increase in population, challenges associated with acculturation in terms of health, youth development, and family relationships have become more distinct. There is a need for culturally specific programs that proactively address acculturation challenges for the South Asian community in Minnesota. ​AshaUSA will focus on implementing culturally specific programs that will proactively address acculturation challenges with the first generation immigrant community before they become major issues”.

At this presentation my goal was to develop awareness about possible significant mental health issues triggered by bias-based bullying. I am aware that children are still being bullied around the country because of being “different’ in some ways. I hope presentations like this will continue to bring awareness to both adults and children as they navigate through this difficult phase.

There is no room for bullying and harassment in the workplace. Whether it’s a small company or a large corporation, every worker must be given the opportunity to work in a safe, positive, bully-free environment.

It really does not matter whether it’s a very small company with only a couple of employees, or it’s a large corporation with thousands of employees, it is important that all employees are treated with respect. Some employers and managers believe that the employees are getting paid for being there, and therefore, they must not complain no matter how they are treated. Well, the employees get paid for the work they do and the service they provide, and not for putting up with any form of bullying and harassment.

Most employees want to do a good job at their workplace. At the end of their workday, most employees like to feel satisfied that they have put in a good day’s work. They don’t need to go home having to deal with the after-effect of harassment at their workplace. If their performance is not acceptable, then that can be handled in a professional manner. All employees typically understand that there are job expectations that they must live up to and they are all aware that they will receive feedback and guidance about their job performance. But none of that has to be done in a harassing manner.

There is no reason why treatment at the workplace becomes the cause for a mental health disorder for an employee. It can be avoided and it must be avoided.

As the new school-year rolls in, we need to make a resolution to continue our efforts to end bullying in school all across our country so all children can experience a safe and positive environment.

It is unfortunate that many schools around the nation still continue to have to deal with bullying. No matter how frustrating this might be, all school staff must understand that this is a battle they must continue to fight. Children are not mature enough to be able to deal with bullying on a regular basis. They need help from adults around them. They expect the adults to maintain a positive environment so all children can focus on what they go to school for – “learning”.

It is also critical to understand that if bullying is allowed to continue, it can and will create severe mental health issues for many victims. We often read about many such victims around the country. During my presentations around the country I have personally met adults who are still having to deal with mental health issues caused because of bullying. Bullying is not just a minor irritating issue; it must be treated as a very serious problem requiring constant and consistent attention.

I hope all schools across the country will renew their focus on this critical matter, keeping in mind that many children’s wellbeing is at risk. Let us hope this new school-year will bring much more significant progress in this area.

It is not healthy for a person to have to tolerate bullying in the workplace on a regular basis. It can lead to mental health issues. It is therefore important to either fight back or quit and find another opportunity.

The following are some of the ways people deal with workplace bullying:

• Ignore it and move on
• Tolerate it and keep trying to do your job
• Fight back
• Quit and find another opportunity

Ignoring is a good way to handle this. But not everyone is able to ignore it, and also, if the bullying continues for a while, then ignoring it might simply become impossible.

Tolerating it would likely, in most cases, lead to mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, etc. This can have a devastating impact on a person.

Fighting back may seem difficult at first, but there are ways one can fight back in most cases. I talk about this in my book “How to stand up to workplace bullying and take on an unjust employer”. This can be stressful in a different way, but in my opinion, this is still much better than tolerating it. At least there is a good possibility that some positive changes might be incorporated by the company.

Quitting and finding another opportunity is probably the least stressful, but this is not always an available option for many people.

Most employees want to do a good job for the employer they work for, and do not deserve any kind of bullying and harassment. If an employee is not meeting expectations consistently then there are other ways to deal with that situation rather than bullying or harassment.

Some supervisors and managers believe that yelling and shouting at employees is the only way to get them to get their work done. That in fact is a form of intimidation and should not be acceptable. Most employees want to do a good job, but if at times their performance falls below the acceptable level, then it is important for a supervisor/manager to discuss the performance with the employee concerned and discuss ways to help the employee improve his or her performance. All of this needs to be done through performance feedback, development planning, training, follow through, etc. None of this needs to be done in a harassing manner.

It is important for supervisors and managers to keep in mind that employees do their best when they are happy at their work. A manager’s responsibility is to make sure that the employees perform their duties well, while maintaining a positive and rewarding environment. The main point is that all employees typically understand that they need to meet performance expectations and that there may be consequences if performance is consistently below expectations, but there should be no room for bullying and harassment by the supervisor/manager.

Most employees want to do a good job for the employer they work for, and do not deserve any kind of bullying and harassment. If an employee is not meeting expectations consistently then there are other ways to deal with that situation rather than bullying or harassment.

Some supervisors and managers believe that yelling and shouting at employees is the only way to get them to get their work done. That in fact is a form of intimidation and should not be acceptable. Most employees want to do a good job, but if at times their performance falls below the acceptable level, then it is important for a supervisor/manager to discuss the performance with the employee concerned and discuss ways to help the employee improve his or her performance. All of this needs to be done through performance feedback, development planning, training, follow through, etc. None of this needs to be done in a harassing manner.

It is important for supervisors and managers to keep in mind that employees do their best when they are happy at their work. A manager’s responsibility is to make sure that the employees perform their duties well, while maintaining a positive and rewarding environment. The main point is that all employees typically understand that they need to meet performance expectations and that there may be consequences if performance is consistently below expectations, but there should be no room for bullying and harassment by the supervisor/manager.