Law professor David Yamada, President of the New Workplace Institute and a leading expert in workplace bullying, recently wrote a post about Post-Traumatic Embitterment Disorder (PTED), which, according to PubMed.gov, is different from post-traumatic stress disorder, and contains the following core criteria:
(1) a single exceptional negative life event precipitates the onset of the illness;
(2) the present negative state developped in the direct context of this event;
(3) the emotional response is embitterment and feelings of injustice;
(4) repeated intrusive memories of the event;
(5) emotional modulation is unimpaired, patients can even smile when engaged in thoughts of revenge;
(6) no obvious other mental disorder that can explain the reaction.
Yamada explains that “the concept of PTED helps us to understand that anger and bitterness may be natural responses to trauma and injustice, in some cases becoming disabling.”
He also urges us to consider that perhaps there is a link between PTED and acts of severe workplace violence committed by individuals who appear to snap after purportedly having been bullied at work: “Equally important, [recognition of PTED] it may lead us to [offer] ‘specific therapeutic interventions’ [to those suffering from it].”
Read his full post here.