Can Workplace Bullying Cause PTSD? What You Need to Know
Many people think of PTSD from bullying as an issue rooted in childhood experiences. While this is often true, it’s also possible to experience bullying and develop PTSD for the first time as an adult. This can be particularly shocking when it happens in the workplace, revealing that such harmful behavior still exists in adult environments.
Many people dismiss PTSD from the workplace and often perceive “hazing” and bullying as a normal part of work culture.
You may have even denied your own experience as being bullied. However, here’s some things to consider if you’ve left a workplace.
Are you're more guarded in your new workplace?
Do you have difficulty trusting coworkers?
Do you expect someone to embarrass, sabotage or use something personal against you?
Even though your job may have changed, Your nervous system may still be acting as if a threat is there.
What is Workplace Bullying?
Workplace bullying was once known as ‘mobbing’ and is still a part of ‘hazing’ rituals. It includes any behavior that intimidates, offends, degrades or embarasses a worker. Unfortunately, these negative behaviors often operate within the confines of workplace rules and policies, making them technically legal, but harmful. They hurt work culture and can leave persistent psychological issues to the targeted worker. Bullies can be supervisors, subordinates, or colleagues who use intimidating tactics to exert power.
Examples of Workplace Bullying:
Workplace bullying can take many forms, including:
Unjustified blame
Taking credit for others' work
Exclusion from meetings or social events
Unwarranted threats to fire or reprimand
Constant unjustified criticism and snide remarks
Verbal abuse such as swearing or shouting
Physical threats or violence
Requiring you to do inappropriate things
Unfair denial of leave or training
Unfairly withholding opportunities, training, or workplace resources
How Bullying is Different From Harassment
Bullying can overlap with harassment, especially when there is a power hierarchy, such as a chain on command. Harassment and discrimination occur when the actions against a person are influenced by that person’s protected class, such as race, gender, or disability. For example, a supervisor shouting at an employee in front of others can be both bullying and harassment.
In the United States, federal employment discrimination laws enforced by the EEOC address harassment based on protected characteristics such as race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age 40 or older, disability, or genetic information. Harassment can also be unlawful when it is connected to protected activity, such as reporting discrimination.
For example, a supervisor repeatedly humiliating an employee because of their race could involve both workplace bullying and unlawful harassment. But not every rude, unfair, or hostile workplace interaction is legally considered harassment.
The EEOC explains that ordinary personality conflicts, disagreements, simple teasing, offhand comments, or isolated incidents that are not very serious generally do not violate federal anti-discrimination laws unless other legal circumstances apply.
That doesn't mean the experience cannot hurt you. Something can be psychologically damaging without meeting the legal definition of workplace harassment.
Can Workplace Bullying Cause PTSD?
Workplace bullying can be associated with PTSD symptoms, but not everyone who experiences bullying develops PTSD.
Research examining workplace and school bullying has found an association between bullying exposure and PTSD symptoms. A meta-analysis found that, across the studies reviewed, many people exposed to bullying reported PTSD-level symptoms. However, the researchers also noted that much of the available evidence was cross-sectional and that the existing research could not establish a definite causal relationship.
So if you are asking: "Can something that happened at my job really affect me this much?" Yes.
Workplace trauma can be psychologically significant. You don't have to have been physically attacked for an experience to have a lasting effect on you. Repeated humiliation, intimidation, threats, isolation, or loss of psychological safety can leave you feeling constantly on guard. And sometimes those reactions follow you into your next job.
Do you Have PTSD From Workplace Bullying?
Reflecting on the examples mentioned, you might realize you've experienced some of these situations without recognizing yourself as a victim or considering the possibility of having PTSD. However, you find yourself guarded and distrustful in a new work environment. Perhaps you're constantly anticipating sabotage or expect others to misuse privileged information. Regardless of your specific defenses, you might find yourself viewing others negatively at first glance, indicating you have undealt injuries in your work history. Just as an improperly healed bone forms scar tissue that creates future issues with arthritis and bone degradation, unaddressed psychological wounds can lead to persistent emotional pain. Healing from trauma requires active effort; without it, the unresolved trauma can continue to impact your perceptions and interactions.
Common PTSD Symptoms After Workplace Bullying
PTSD can involve four broad symptom groups:
Intrusive symptoms: unwanted memories, nightmares, or distress when reminded of what happened
Avoidance: avoiding people, places, conversations, or situations that remind you of the workplace experience
Negative changes in thoughts and mood: persistent negative beliefs, shame, guilt, emotional detachment, or loss of interest
Changes in arousal and reactivity: hypervigilance, irritability, exaggerated startle response, sleep problems, or difficulty concentrating
You Have Complex PTSD If You Meet the Following Criteria:
Re-experiencing the traumatic events
Avoidance of thoughts and activities that serve as reminders
Perceptions of heightened current threat
And By Adding the Following Criteria:
Affective (emotion) dysregulation
Negative self-concept
Disturbed relationships
Why Workplace Trauma Can Follow You to Your Next Job
One of the most frustrating parts of workplace trauma is realizing that leaving the environment doesn't always immediately make you feel safe. Your new workplace may be completely different. Your new supervisor may treat you with respect. Your new coworkers may have no idea what happened to you. But your body doesn't necessarily know that yet.
You may still scan people's facial expressions. You may overanalyze emails. You may assume criticism means you're about to be humiliated. You may have difficulty asking for help because your previous workplace taught you that vulnerability could be used against you. This is where I want you to separate what is happening now from what happened then. Your current coworker is not automatically your previous bully. Your current supervisor is not automatically your previous supervisor.
Your new workplace deserves to be evaluated based on what is actually happening—not only through the lens of what happened before. That doesn't mean ignoring red flags. It means learning how to recognize the difference between a real threat and a trauma reminder.
How to Recover From Workplace Bullying and PTSD
Recovery doesn't mean pretending the experience didn't happen.
It means learning how to respond to the present without allowing the past to control every reaction.
Professional mental health support can be an important part of recovery, particularly if you are experiencing persistent PTSD symptoms, anxiety, depression, sleep problems, or difficulty functioning at work.
Depending on your situation, treatment may include trauma-focused psychotherapy or other evidence-based approaches.
You can also begin rebuilding your sense of safety through everyday practices that help you reconnect with yourself.
That includes learning your triggers.
Learning your body's warning signs.
Practicing healthy boundaries.
Building supportive relationships.
Getting enough sleep.
And, for some people, incorporating structured physical activity.
How Exercise Can Help With Workplace Trauma
When you've spent months or years in a stressful workplace, your body may become very familiar with tension. Tight shoulders, shallow breathing. a clenched jaw, and overall restlessness. You may even become uncomfortable with the physical sensations that come with exertion because an elevated heart rate can remind your body of previous stress.
Exercise gives you an opportunity to practice experiencing stress in a controlled environment; albeit physical stress, your body learns to control your physiological response to it. If you are in control of you physiology—that is your breathe and in turn your heart rate—you are able to influence your mind to stay calm under pressure.
At Drip Training, the goal is to meet you where you are and progressively build your capacity. Through appropriate breathing techniques, strength training, and controlled increases in intensity, you can practice responding to physical stress without automatically interpreting every uncomfortable sensation as danger.
Your body can become a place where you practice control, autonomy, and confidence again.
Ready to Reclaim Your Life?
You don't have to let one workplace—or one person's behavior—define your relationship with work forever.
You may need time to rebuild your confidence.
You may need therapy. You may need stronger boundaries. You may need to learn how to trust yourself again. And you may need to teach your body that the environment has changed. That's work worth doing.
Because the goal isn't simply to survive your next workplace. It's to feel like yourself while you're there.
Conclusion
So, can workplace bullying cause PTSD? Workplace bullying can be associated with PTSD symptoms and other significant mental health effects, but not everyone who experiences workplace bullying develops PTSD. The impact depends on the person, the circumstances, the duration and severity of the experience, and many other factors.
If you're still carrying the effects of what happened at work, don't dismiss them simply because the abuse wasn't physical. Your experience matters. Your nervous system matters. And your recovery matters. Start by learning what your body is telling you. Then learn how to respond.
Strength is not bought. It's built.
At Drip Training, Coach Dee uses trauma-informed strength and conditioning, breathing techniques, and controlled physical training to help people with PTSD build a stronger relationship with their bodies and their responses to stress.
If you're ready to explore virtual personal training designed around where you are today, contact Coach Dee to learn more.
This article is for educational purposes and is not a substitute for mental health diagnosis or treatment. If you are experiencing ongoing workplace harassment, threats, discrimination, or physical danger, consider speaking with an appropriate workplace resource, qualified mental health professional, attorney, or relevant government agency.
About the Author:
COACH DEE | Certified Strength & Conditioning Coach, CSCS, ACE—CPT
Deborah Park, known as Coach Dee, is the owner of Drip Training LLC and an ACE Certified Personal Trainer and Health Coach. With a background in architecture and kinesiology from the University of Virginia, she has extensive experience in personal training and athletic coaching in a clinical (physical therapy) setting. Coach Dee combines her scientific knowledge with years of hands-on experience and generational knowledge of food as medicine to create programs that empower clients to regain control over their bodies and minds.
Her journey into personal training was deeply influenced by her personal struggles, including recovering from a life-changing car accident that led to PTSD and pain from scoliosis. This experience gave her a unique understanding of the connection between mental health and physical well-being. Coach Dee is committed to helping clients develop resilience, build strength, and rediscover their confidence—no matter the challenges they face.
