Bullying in the Workplace/Community is what got me started as a therapist, helping those in teaching and the health service who were being bullied out of a job by inscrutable bosses eager to edge out established staff in favour of cheaper employees straight out of college. I learned that it's not easy to do much about bullying in institutions--particularly when it's done with a fake smile, behind closed doors. Instead, it's much more straightforward to help individuals develop resilience and coping strategies founded on strengthened mind sets. I was a senior caseworker for a professional teaching association and saw numerous examples of bullying and emotional abuse, but was also instrumental in providing help and support for targets of abuse by workplace colleagues. Those who live in countries such as UK, Europe and Australia benefit from legislation that governs workplace relations; but not everyone will have the benefit of protective laws --eg USA where such laws are less powerful or nonexistent. But irrespective, laws that proscribe bullying in the workplace can be a blessing and a curse.
I can also help and support those in toxic relationships, who suppress their own quality of life because of external demands that keep them trapped. And when a person suffers from gaslightling (see the 1948 movie 'Gaslight' with Charles Boyer and Ingrid Bergman to see this in action), is there any wonder confidence erodes to the point where you feel unable to escape and take a scary step into the big, scary unknown can leave you locked into an insufferable situation?