Work addiction
Work addiction, also known as workaholism, is a behavioral addiction characterized by an overwhelming compulsion to work excessively, often at the expense of personal health, relationships, and social obligations. Individuals suffering from work addiction may neglect self-care and experience stress-related health issues, including high blood pressure and migraines. The roots of this addiction are complex, stemming from factors such as family history, perfectionism, and work environments that glorify long hours. Typical symptoms include chronic preoccupation with work, excessive working hours, and impaired social relationships, which can lead to marital conflicts and reduced social support.
Screening for work addiction often involves comprehensive assessments by therapists, who help identify the severity of the addiction and suggest appropriate treatment options. These treatments can range from counseling and family therapy to participation in self-help groups like Workaholics Anonymous. Prevention strategies focus on modeling balanced lifestyles, setting work limits, and promoting self-care, which are crucial for breaking the cycle of work addiction, especially in families where the condition can perpetuate across generations. The rise of remote work and technology has further blurred the lines between work and personal life, contributing to an increase in workaholism, with recent studies indicating that 27 to 30 percent of individuals may be affected.
Work addiction
ALSO KNOWN AS: Workaholism
DEFINITION: Work addiction, or workaholism, is a behavioral addiction defined as an intense need to work. The addiction comes with potentially severe physical, emotional, and social consequences. Work addicts can experience specific physical and psychological symptoms from working excessive hours and from neglecting other areas of their lives and the lives of family and friends.
Causes
Work addiction is caused by a complex constellation of factors, including a family history of work addiction or other addictions, perfectionism, obsessive-compulsive traits, organizational cultures that encourage workaholic tendencies, modeling of work addiction by one’s parents or other role models, enjoyment of one’s work, and a lack of other meaningful identities in a person’s life. Research has found that work addiction results from a combination of personality traits, family background, and work cultures that promote or normalize work-addictive behaviors, such as regularly working long hours and taking work home.
Risk Factors
Persons who work in salaried, rather than hourly wage, jobs have an increased risk for work addiction. Working in an environment in which long hours, taking work home, working weekends, and a lack of self-care are normalized places people at risk for developing work addiction. Additionally, persons who are perfectionists or who have obsessive-compulsive features, such as frequent worrying or compulsively checking email, are at increased risk for developing work addiction.
Symptoms
The clearest symptoms of work addiction are an excessive need to work and having one’s work chronically overtake time spent on self-care, social activities, and family obligations. People who suffer from work addiction think constantly about work when not at work, will work significantly beyond what is required by their jobs, and experience stress-related medical conditions, such as high blood pressure and migraines.
Work addicts often lose or have impaired social relationships and generally neglect nonwork aspects of their lives, such as hobbies, exercise, and friendships. Work addicts experience frequent conflicts between their work and other important aspects of their lives.
People with work addiction are more likely to have marital and family conflicts, get divorced, and have fewer close relationships than workers who are not addicted to their jobs.
Screening and Diagnosis
A therapist can perform a comprehensive screening and assessment for work addiction. The therapist will ask the client about symptoms, background information, work behaviors and hours, general functioning, family and social experiences, mental health history, and medical history. The therapist may ask the client to complete questionnaires that assess the symptoms of work addiction and their severity. The therapist will then share the results of this comprehensive assessment with the client and discuss treatment options. Increasingly, employers and managers are conducting screenings for work addiction risk factors to identify employees who would benefit from preventive interventions or referral to a mental health professional.
Treatment and Therapy
Treatment options for work addiction are similar to treatment options for other behavioral addictions. The level of severity determines the choice of treatment, the causes of the client’s work addiction, the client’s preferences, and the client’s personal coping resources. Persons who are suffering from physical illnesses caused by workaholic behaviors will be referred to physicians for appropriate medical treatment.
Clients may attend weekly or biweekly counseling sessions with a therapist, who will help the client explore the causes of their work addiction; learn to set healthy boundaries with work; develop healthier self-care behaviors, such as balanced diet and exercise; and develop and maintain healthy social relationships. Couples or family therapy may also be integrated to address any family concerns and communication issues.
In addition to or instead of attending counseling sessions, a work addict may participate in a twelve-step self-help and recovery group, such as Workaholics Anonymous. In this group format, the struggling individual may develop personally supportive relationships with others who are also striving to recover from work addiction and who are hoping to progress through a series of steps to better understand and manage their behavior.
Several self-help books and workbooks for work addiction also exist. These resources offer concrete behavioral strategies for decreasing work addiction, such as setting time limits for work tasks, investing a consistent amount of time in hobbies, and using assertive communication in relationships. The length of treatment for work addiction varies by client and is affected by the client’s willingness to engage in treatment, the client’s other coping resources, and the client’s symptom severity.
Prevention
Because work addiction is a family disease in which children of work addicts are themselves more likely to develop work addiction, one of the best ways to prevent work addiction in future generations is for parents to seek treatment when they have symptoms. Parents can also help to prevent future work addiction in their children by modeling involvement in a variety of important life roles not limited to work identities. Work addiction can be prevented by setting limits around work hours and personal time, prioritizing valued relationships, participating regularly in hobbies, and engaging in regular self-care through exercise and relaxation.
Employers can prevent work addiction by setting organizational norms of “working smart” and being efficient, versus working excessive hours. Employers can limit the amount of work an employee can take home and can provide resources to promote positive worker health. Some innovative employers make available helpful resources, such as gyms, on-site medical clinics, and relaxation gardens, in the work environment so that employees can conveniently use these services for self-care during breaks, on the way to work, and after work.
These prevention methods are of utmost importance as although work addiction is not yet formally recognized as a behavioral addiction like gambling, its prevalence appears to be increasing. In the mid-2020s, studies indicated that between 27 and 30 percent of people were struggling with workaholism. One key factor in this increase was the rise in remote work. When individuals can work from home, the lines between work and home life become blurred. In essence, some may feel as though working from home means they are always in their office. The opportunity for a home to be a respite from work obligations decreased with the rise of remote work. Modern technology and the growth of work culture through social media sites, such as LinkedIn, have only caused an increase in workaholism.
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