Bullying as a Traumatizing Process: An Investigation of the Phenomenology of the Bullying Experiences and their Dynamic Effects

Bullying has been shown to generate deleterious psychological effects leading to psychosocial, psychological and psychiatric disturbances. Based on qualitative research, the aim of this study is to investigate the internalization and psychodynamics of bullying and the extent to which bullying may fundamentally influence the individual's experience of self and other. We have conducted qualitative interviews with group therapy patients at a psychiatric clinic in Denmark, all of whom had been assigned to therapy due to depression, and all with severe experiences of bullying. Originally this was not the focus of their therapy, but our investigation indicates how different aspects of the patients’ pathology appear to be linked to their prior experiences of bullying. We suggest that bullying may be perceived as a specific type of traumatic experience, and we posit that it may have disruptive effects on the internal self-other representations, which the individual may have difficulties integrating at the symbolic level.