Suffering at work

Moral Harassment

The french penal code defines moral harassment as follows: "[...] Repeated comments or behaviors that aim or cause a deterioration of the working conditions and that might impair one's personal rights and dignity, and impact one's physical or mental health or compromise a professional future[...]"[1]. This situation has devastating effects on it's victims. Psychologically the individual may feel useless, guilty, demotivated, insecure, and lose his self esteem. Some people start doubting themselves and wonder if the harassment isn't just 'normal' and that they might be the 'abnormal' ones?

The short answer is 'no'. Being harassed is not and will never be 'normal' because it always causes personal suffering as well as the deterioration of working conditions.

As regards to the treatement, I offer counselling to help these people protect themselves against this toxic work environment. Assisting them to regain their self confidence. The aim of this therapy is to help them identify the working conditions they need and to support them in acknowledging their toxic work environment.

Burnout

All professions can be overloaded with work. The individual loses track of time even taking work home. The effects of this overload, if it persists, can cause considerable mental strain and stress. The person may feel exhausted, unable to concentrate, nauseous when thinking about work. Even though he normally enjoys his job and is generally meticulous. This overwork undermines the personal life of the individual and can lead to a "burnout", in which the person feels lost and unable to define the limits of his work. Burnouts can also be triggered by the deterioration of the working conditions or the work atmosphere.

For those experiencing a burnout, I provide psychotherapy to help them put limits on their overwhelming work demands and support them against internal guilt ( self blame, comparison with colleagues,fear of losing the job...) or external guilt ( demanding boss, company goals, peer group pressure etc.)

Interpersonal conflict

In a work environment, disagreements and tensions can undermine the overall atmosphere and cause mental pain. At times this suffering can seep into one's personal life. Thus a person in conflict with a co-worker or a manager, may feel forced, misunderstood, angry, or suffocated by his or her work...

I offer a space to talk and take a step back, to understand and handle the feelings that arise during a conflict.
Then after that, we can build a better understanding of conflictual situations and work on the attitude to have towards colleagues or higher ups, in order to prevent the tensions for escalating.
[1] ( french website): https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/