Workplace Bullies in Training

Obsessive anti-social and paranoid behaviors are rampant among today’s young people. These disorders are not mere quirks, but are serious enough that they interfere with ordinary functioning. So reports Dr. Mark Olufson of Columbia University and New York State Psychiatric Institute.

Dr. Olufson and co-authors published a study this month in the Archives of General Psychiatry, which found that if drug and alcohol abuse are included, one-half of more than 5,000 young people (19 – 25) surveyed have some type of psychiatric condition. Second only to drug and alcohol abuse, personality disorders were the single largest category.

The statistics are frightening when we consider that at least 25 percent of these young adults will not receive treatment, yet most of them will likely be in workplace environments, if they aren’t already. Is it any wonder that workplace bullying is a worldwide epidemic and is on the increase?

Antisocial and paranoid behaviors are two descriptors frequently associated with workplace bullies. It seems that future workplace bullies are in training on college campuses and elsewhere right now.