BULLIES ARE EVERYWHERE : Power Issues at Home, Work, and School

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BULLIES ARE EVERYWHERE Power Issues at Home,
Work, and School

• Part II Examples at Home, School, and Work -
  Designing Effective Interventions
• Stuart W. Twemlow, MD
• Professor of Psychiatry
• Baylor College of Medicine
• Houston, Texas

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How Power Dynamics Work

• Social Roles Attract Certain Personalities
• All Personalities are Unique
• Behavior in the Social Role Is Predictable
• Power Dynamics Are Public Dramas
• The Stages for the Dramas Change and Individuals
  Might Play Different Roles
• Leaders Set the Tone for a Climate-Group Dynamic

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Bullies, Victims, Bystanders at Home

• Absent Father as Bully, Victim, and Bystander
• Child as Bully to Parent and Siblings
• Domestic Victims as Bystanders to Childs
  Victimization
• Bully Parent Defensiveness at School (Victim)
• Parentification and Helpful Bystanding
• Dismissive Families

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Non Mentalising FamiliesWhen Bullies Run
Families

• Hurt and Neglect their Children
• Poor Internal Regulation of Affect
• Fixed Power Struggles Create Reactivity
• Sadistic and Anti Authority Role Modeling
• Dismiss Pain of the Victim-Leads to Multiple
  Generational Transmission of Trauma
• Inconsistent Parenting Different Parental
  Signals

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Bullies at Work

• The exposure of a worker over and over again to
  negative interactions on the part of one or more
  dominant persons or groups who gain in some way
  from the discomfort of the victim. These
  negative actions are intentional inflictions of
  injury or discomfort and may involve physical
  contact, words or insulting gestures, forms of
  sexual bribery and coercion including quid pro
  quo manipulation.
• There is an imbalance of power in an
  asymmetrical coercive power dynamic.
• Victim - victimizer and bystander roles
  interchange, and when violence is imminent,
  become fixed.

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• Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac - attributed
  to Henry Kissinger.
• The Nature of Workplace Harassment
• Sexual Harassment first legally defined in 1980
• (U.S. Equal Employment Commission)
• 42 Women report harassment in previous 2 years
• 15 Men
• (U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board 1981)
• 73 Women reported harassment in medical school
  and residency
• 22 Men
• Primarily Sexism
• Other Vulnerable Workers Disability, SES,
  Sexual Orientation, Race
• Who can one hit if not ones friends. Sir Ralph
  Richardson to Sir Alec Guinness before punching
  him in the jaw.

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Violence Harassment in the Workplace is

• Social Systems Group Focused
• Group Dynamics Magnifies FEAR
• Fear Narrows Response Options Perspective
• Induces Perseveration
• Reduces Work Efficiency
• Promotes absenteeism
• Group Dynamics Create Transference
  Distortions

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• Street Violence
• Individual Focus
• Acute
• Influenced by Community Organization
• Physical Motive
• Work Place Violence
• Group Focus
• Chronic
• Influenced by Workplace Organization
• Psychological Motive

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Types of Harassers

• The Spurious Counselor/Helper
• The Confidant
• The Intellectual
• The Power Broker
• The Sadist

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• Three Cases of Harassment
• African-American woman by white male
  supervisor Avoidant Bystanders husband,
  personnel chief, co-workers,
• Hispanic woman by African-American woman Bully
  Bystanders co-workers, personnel chief.
• Conservative white male by female co-workers
  and their supporters Bully bystanding and victim
  by-standing by co-workers and personnel officers.

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Bullying at School

• Earliest Indication of Lifelong Problems with
  Aggression
• Bullying Creates Non-Achieving Climates
• Home Played Out on Schools Stage
• Developmental Evolution from Physical to Social
  Aggression
• Urban/Suburban/Rural Enactments

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BACK OFF BULLY Back Off Bully, Get Out of My
Face, Everybody Needs their Personal Space, Do
Your Own Thing, Get Off My Case, Did You Ever
Notice that Trouble Comes In Threes, The Bully,
The Bystander, and The Victim, Thats me, The
Bully Needs Attention, The Victim gets Hurt The
Bystander just Watches and Doesnt say A
Word, Shame is The Bullys Game, The Victim
Stands There And Takes The Pain, Bystander You
fan The Flames, Round and Round Its a Hurtin
Game, We Dont Like The Bully Game, With All
That Pain And Shame, Weve Got Other Things To
Do, Better Roles To Play, Im Not A Victim, I am A
Person, I Will Stand Up For Myself, Im Not A
Bystander, I am A Friend Who Can Look After
Someone Else, Change Bully, You Can Change, You
Dont have To Play That Hurtn Game, Try A
Different Role, Try A Brand New Way, Its Easy,
All You Have To Say Is BACK OFF B ULLY
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GENTLE WARRIOR

• Create a Model of Being a Helpful Bystander or
  Friend
• 10 Week Course for K-5 Children in PE
• Practice Movement (physical) and Self Reflection
  (Mental) to Teach Assertiveness and Strategies to
  Deal with Bullies

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GENTLE WARRIORProgram Elements

• Stretching Breathing
• Relaxation
• Role Play
• Defensive Escapes
• Use of Voice/Feet
• Self Reflection
• Parent Involvement

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Research FindingsGentle Warrior Program

• Randomized, Control Study with 11 schools over 3
  years
• Gentle Warrior Program Specially Studied Using a
  Sub Sample of 268 (141 boys, 127 girls)
• Grades 3-5 in Midwestern American City
• Study in the Third Year or Maintenance Phase
• All Prior Exposure to CAPSLE
• 3 Session Refresher Course

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Measures

• Self Report of Victimization
• Bystander Behavior
• Attitudes to Aggression
• Teacher CAPSLE Use
• GW Participation
• Using Validated Questionnaires (Vernberg)

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Results3 Week Review of GWP

• reduced boys victimization of others
• increased boys helpful bystander
• increased boys empathy
• had little impact on girls
• Validates that Mentalization was Mediated by the
  Use of A Martial Arts

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CHILDRENS BOOKS ILLUSTRATING VARIOUS ROLES
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MIDDLE SCHOOL-URBAN WORKSHEETS
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Classroom Tools

• Coloring Books, Games, Word Searches, Work Sheets
  Used to Increase Mentalization

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I feel upset if I see a kid being picked on
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I enjoy and encourage aggression
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I feel responsibility to stop aggression
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Teachers report less victimization in CAPSLE
schools
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Mean Metropolitan Achievement Test Scores of
1,106 Children Participating in Peaceful Schools
Program and 1,106 Matched Controls
Percentile scores
Matched controls
In program previous year
Own control
In program both years
In program current year
Note Error bars represent 95 confidence
intervals (two standard errors)