Bullying in the work-place is a major contributor to mental illness, researchers say today.
Victims of bullying are much more likely than others to be taking drugs such as antidepressants, sedatives, tranquillisers and sleeping pills, according to a report in BMJ Open.
The findings come from a study of more than 6,000 public sector workers in Helsinki, Finland.
About 5% claimed to be current victims of bullying and 10% claimed to witness bullying take place frequently. About half said they had occasionally seen it.
The chances of men having prescriptions for antidepressants doubled if they had been victims of bullying while for women there was a 50% increase in the likelihood.
But witnessing bullying was also linked to increased mental stress – with witnesses having similar rates of prescriptions as victims.
Researcher Dr Tea Lallukka writes: "Workplace bullying needs to be tackled proactively in an effective way to prevent its adverse consequences for mental health."
Workplace bullying and subsequent psychotropic medication: a cohort study with register linkages. BMJ Open December 13 2012; doi 10.1136/bmjopen-2012-001660
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