Workplace, Adult Bully or Successful Psychopath, A Matter of Semantics. By, ABC

Most everyone in the United States being familiar with the terms “going postal”, are very much affected by the “workplace bullying and mobbing phenomenon”. Very few however, understand what is really meant by these terms. Most, having only heard mention of adults in our workplaces described as “bully(ies)” and more recently in other life circumstances, but are unfamiliar with what is really meant when an adult is referred to as a “bully”.

People in several other English speaking countries, such as the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada, are more familiar with both the terms and the meaning of “workplace bullying and/or adult bullying and mobbing”. These countries being the first to recognize and determine that “adult bullying and mobbing” posed a problem in their workplaces, serious enough, to both educate and legislate against it. The only problem is that people in these countries use the term “bully” or “bullying” in reference to both the schoolyard bullying of childhood, AND when referring to adults who bully, although they are very different in nature. Most child bullies, being simply immature.

When people in the United States first hear about “the adult or workplace bullying and mobbing phenomenon”, most continue to quickly dismiss the notion of an “adult” who is a “bully” or adult(s) who use “bullying and mobbing” behaviors in the workplace. The word(s) “bully(ies)” seeming just too juvenile and petty to associate with a serious problem between adults. Instead, the word “cry baby” comes to mind in reference to the “target”.

It is not understood, that when the word “bully(ies)(ing)” is used to describe behaviors of an adult, who abuses other adults, the meaning becomes more concerning. These adults are thought to think very differently than most of us, having an absent or diminished ability to experience caring, empathetic feelings for other people. They also derive a type of satisfaction over the misfortune of other people , which they often cause by manipulating others covertly through lies and deception against their target(s), this is called “mobbing”.

People in the United States are more familiar with the medical terms “psychopath”, or “sociopath”, when referring to adults who lack or have a diminished ability to have caring feelings for other people.

But most are unaware, that some “psychopaths/sociopaths”, also happen to be highly intelligent, and are referred to medically as “successful psychopaths/sociopath”. They are “successful” in that their intelligence makes it possible for them to recognize and understand that they think differently and lack the caring emotions that other people express. Most “successful psychopaths/sociopaths” consider these differences as an advantage over others, and carefully learn to mimic the normal emotions of others. Their ability to deceive others, by appearing emotionally healthy, while using half truths and blatant lies is stellar. Their intelligence making it possible for them to remember the complex web of lies they weave, to succeed at deceiving everyone’s perception against their target(s}. Most “Adult bullies” in our workplaces more precisely share the characteristics of “successful psychopaths”.

Although most people in the US know some of the facts about psychopaths/sociopaths, most only know it as it pertains to adult abusers in the news, and in both true and fictional stories and movies, depicting heartless crimes against innocent or random victims.

Many feel confident in their ability to recognize and avoid these criminal personalities, not understanding that the psychopaths/sociopaths they read about or see in movies, only represent behaviors typical of psychopaths/sociopaths of average or low intelligence. Their lack of higher intelligence, resulting in their newsworthy arrests and the stuff of tales of crimes gone wrong.

The truth is, “adult bullies” are more precisely, intelligent adults, with a level of “psychopathy/sociopathy”.  Approximately 4% of the general population is comprised of “successful psychopaths”.  Possibly the greatest hidden threat, that the average American adult, is both exposed to, but knows little, or nothing about.

Learn more about “adult bullying and mobbing” and “successful psychopaths/sociopaths” today!  Who knows, the next psychopathic thriller may play out for real, at your workplace, or in other circumstances, where another adult has some type of authority or other advantage over you!