The Bullyologist: Breaking the Silence on Bullying – Exposing Power Abuse, Workplace Mobbing, and Institutional Retaliation
The Bullyologist by Jessica Hickman is a powerful exploration of how bullying manifests in workplaces, institutions, and professional hierarchies—and the long-term psychological and physical effects it has on individuals who challenge power. It goes beyond the surface-level understanding of bullying, revealing how group dynamics, power imbalances, and systemic retaliation sustain cultures of abuse while silencing truth-tellers and high performers. At the Center for Integrative Neuroscience, this book aligns with our theories on power manipulation, workplace mobbing, psychological warfare, and the profound neurological impact of prolonged exposure to coercive environments.
How This Book Connects to Our Work
✔ Bullying as a Tool for Power & Social Control—The book explains how bullying is not just an individual issue but a structured mechanism used to enforce compliance, destroy reputations, and remove perceived threats from hierarchical systems. This aligns with our Status Marble Game model, which explains how power, influence, and credibility are stolen, exchanged, or hoarded within organizations.
✔ The Science of Workplace Mobbing & Psychological Warfare – Bullying in professional settings often takes the form of strategic reputation destruction, forced exclusion, and emotional exhaustion. This mirrors our research into workplace retaliation, social conditioning, and how dominant figures orchestrate power plays to maintain control.
✔ Why High Performers & Whistleblowers Become Targets— Those who challenge unethical systems, outperform toxic leaders, or disrupt entrenched hierarchies often find themselves at the center of orchestrated attacks. This aligns with our focus on whistleblower retaliation, institutional betrayal, and the psychological cost of exposing truth in corrupt systems.
✔ The Neurological & Metabolic Toll of Bullying – Prolonged exposure to workplace toxicity, gaslighting, and mobbing triggers chronic stress responses, leading to cortisol dysregulation, nervous system trauma, and long-term metabolic dysfunction. This reinforces our work in trauma recovery and how power-driven stress directly impacts health.
✔ How to Identify & Break Free from Toxic Power Structures – The Bullyologist provides tools for recognizing manipulative workplace cultures, resisting psychological control, and rebuilding resilience after bullying-induced trauma. This aligns with our focus on cognitive resilience, energy sovereignty, and self-protection against systemic oppression.
Essential Reading for Those Facing Workplace Retaliation, Status Attacks, and Institutional Power Games
For individuals who have experienced professional sabotage, workplace harassment, or systemic abuse, The Bullyologist provides a crucial framework for understanding the deeper mechanisms at play and a strategy for reclaiming power. It reinforces the mission of the Center for Integrative Neuroscience to help individuals recognize, resist, and dismantle manipulative power structures using neuroscience-backed strategies for resilience, empowerment, and long-term success.
The Bullyologist: Breaking the Silence on Bullying Through adversity comes great power.
Working in corporate Human Resources at an oil and gas project in Australia, Jessica Hickman was a champion for positive change, winning awards and recognition for her outstanding work in identifying gaps in mental health support in the Resources industry and helping create safer work environments.