The Psychological and Behavioural Correlates of Workplace Victimization.

Background

Workplace victimization is a form of repeated and systematic psychological violence that can severely affect both mental and physical health. From a psychological perspective, it impacts mood states, defense mechanisms, and personality functioning.

Methods

This cross-sectional study investigated the psychological and behavioural correlates of workplace victimization in a sample of 33 workers from various professional sectors, using a multidimensional assessment including standardized measures of personality traits, mood states, and defense mechanisms.

Results

The MMPI-2 profile revealed elevated scores in Hypochondriasis (Hs: 72.00), Depression (D: 70.21), Hysteria (Hy: 67.61), and Paranoia (Pa: 68.76), indicating somatic symptoms, depressive features, and suspiciousness. The POMS showed increased Tension-Anxiety (T: 65.06), Depression-Dejection (D: 68.21), Anger-Hostility (A: 68.15), and Fatigue-Inertia (F: 65.24), alongside reduced Vigor-Activity (V: 43.18). The DMI analysis highlighted a high Reversal score (REV: 65.91), suggesting a predominant use of defense mechanisms such as altruism and idealization to cope with distress.

Conclusions

In this selected sample of adults referred for psychological evaluation for suspected or documented workplace victimization, participants showed a clinically relevant psychological burden, including depressive symptoms, somatic concerns, Anger-Hostility, fatigue, reduced vigor, and specific defensive patterns. Given the cross-sectional design, small sample size, and absence of a control group, these findings should be interpreted as preliminary and cannot establish causality or the specificity of this profile to workplace victimization.