When Bullying Becomes a Group Effort
Bullying doesn’t always come from one person. Sometimes, it takes the form of mobbing: when multiple people gang up on a single target. Mobbing is more than conflict. It’s organized bullying that isolates, humiliates, and wears down its victim.
For me, mobbing wasn’t just a concept I read about… it was my reality. My sister, mother, and godmother joined forces with an anesthesiologist, a group of nurses, former friends, church members, old coworkers, and even my former manager.
What made the involvement of my former manager the most dangerous part for me was the environment she created: she was openly using and selling drugs, surrounding herself with drug dealers and criminals. Instead of protecting her employees, she used intimidation and coercion, dragging others into her chaos and making me a target when I wouldn’t play along.
One person bullying you is painful. But when a group unites, especially under the influence of someone already abusing power and engaging in illegal activity, the betrayal cuts deeper, and the harm becomes systemic.
What Is Mobbing?
The term mobbing was popularized in the workplace by Swedish psychologist Heinz Leymann in the 1980s to describe systematic group bullying by coworkers or managers (National Library of Medicine).
Definition of mobbing:
- A form of group bullying where multiple people target a single individual.
- Common tactics: gossip, exclusion, triangulation, coordinated hostility, and scapegoating.
Mobbing Beyond the Workplace
Although most U.S. research frames mobbing as a workplace bullying problem, it can happen anywhere groups form.
- Workplace Mobbing: Managers or coworkers discredit, isolate, or push someone out.
- School Bullying: Groups of students gang up on one target through rumors, exclusion, or online harassment (StopBullying.gov).
- Community Mobbing: Neighbors spread rumors, socially exclude, or coordinate harassment against one resident.
- Family Mobbing: Relatives scapegoat one member and pile on with criticism, gossip, or shunning.
Gang Stalking: The Extreme Form of Mobbing
Some survivors describe a more severe, organized form of mobbing called “gang stalking.” While controversial in research circles, many report coordinated harassment involving multiple people, both online and offline.
Gang stalking behaviors often include:
- Persistent surveillance or monitoring.
- Spreading false rumors or coordinated smear campaigns.
- Isolation tactics designed to cut the target off from social or professional support.
While gang stalking is not always formally recognized in workplace or school contexts, its patterns echo those of mobbing: group harassment intended to intimidate, isolate, and control.
Source: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health — “Mobbing in the workplace and its relation to depressive symptoms” (Yun & Kang, 2020).
Source:“Gangstalking and Targeted Individuals”. Institute for Strategic Dialogue —
Why Mobbing and Gang Stalking Are Dangerous
Both mobbing and gang stalking go beyond normal conflict:
- They create psychological trauma, often leading to anxiety, depression, or PTSD (APA on bullying trauma).
- They rely on power in numbers, making the target feel helpless and silenced.
- They often thrive in silence, when victims don’t speak up or are dismissed.
All Mobbing Is Bullying
Here’s the truth:
- All mobbing is bullying, but not all bullying is mobbing.
- When groups unite to harass someone, whether it’s called mobbing or gang stalking, the impact is devastating.
- It’s not “just drama.” It’s organized abuse that can destroy lives.
The best way to fight back is to name it for what it is, speak out, and refuse to normalize silence.
Let’s make an echo that says: bullying in any form, solo or group, will not be ignored.
