Being overly involved in work can have very negative effects on your health.
Work to live or live to work? . Faced with this question, most people would answer that what they want is to work in order to live, but oddly enough, there are those who do not know how to live if they do not work.
Here is everything you need to know about this condition, and it is that workaholism has its own causes, symptoms and treatment. It is a real health problem that surprisingly affects many people around the world.
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What is workaholism?
Workaholism translates into an obsession with working as many hours as possible . These are people who have developed the habit of working compulsively, seriously affecting other areas of their lives and their own physical and mental health.
Neuroscience studies also confirm that it is a type of behavior that can be compared to drug addiction. When people addicted to work stop working they can experience some symptoms, sometimes very similar to those that a person addicted to a substance would have.
There is the paradox that the person tries to work more and more to feel satisfied, being able to reach a point of total abduction by work. This, obviously, seriously affects social relationships and the couple relationship, in addition to having negative consequences for one’s own health.
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Causes
Being a workaholic is not something that happens from one day to the next, but is the consequence of different factors that shape a person’s behavior. In most cases, you have to look for its reason for being in the person’s childhood or adolescence.
Generally, workaholism has its origin in the education that has been received . School and society play an important role, but the most decisive role is played by the family. Or rather, in the father, mother or guardian of the person.
These figures are the ones that most strongly convey a series of values, beliefs, expectations and even hopes about the child’s professional future. This means that, on many occasions, the individual perceives that he must be through work how he can become a respected and loved person by his environment.
With this starting point, it is then society in many cases that takes the leading role when it comes to encouraging love of work. Who is addicted to work feels that one of the best ways to gain social recognition is through work.
In this way, the person can begin to develop a vicious circle regarding their relationship with work. This no longer only serves to earn a living, but also gives meaning to it.
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Symptoms
The symptoms of workaholism generally increase over time . The person who suffers from this disorder at first is only someone who concentrates his efforts on professional life.
This is accentuated as time goes by, creating problems when it comes to reconciling work life with personal life. When this happens, the first problems appear in relation to the couple, and the person tends to isolate himself socially for the mere fact that he needs that time to work.
In this way, work is having more and more specific weight in the life of those who have this type of addiction. Holidays, overtime or leisure hours no longer have a real meaning, and that is that everything that is not work lacks interest because it feels that it is something unproductive.
This can even affect sleep, and on many occasions workaholics shy away from sleeping the necessary hours. In many cases, the energy that can be devoted to work without even sleeping for a minimum of hours is truly surprising, but this sooner or later takes its toll.
People who have been addicted to work for a long time may have health complications. For example, one of the symptoms that sets a definitive turning point is having a heart attack. However, it is an underdiagnosed disorder that is difficult to identify by all parties involved.
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Treatment
The first thing to do when someone detects that they are a workaholic is to accept it . There are many of these people who deny reality, and in large part it is because, according to them, work is what has given meaning to their lives in recent years. For them, changing any behavior in this regard is like taking away their identity.
However, there is no other way to break this vicious circle than to stop and understand that this rhythm is incompatible with physical and mental health. It is also with a family and social life, so the first thing is that the person understands that you have to be able to change things.
In this sense it is essential that the person can receive psychotherapy. Of all the intervention models, the cognitive-behavioral approach is the one that gives the best results. With it, self-control is worked on and the way to manage and enjoy the other parts of life is worked on.
The objective is that the person can be empowered to be able to live in a different way than they did before. The work based on the most cognitive part focuses on changing mental schemes about what has value in life, as well as reducing expectations and self-demands in relation to the workplace.
On the other hand, there is another more behavioral work focused on work behavior. The person with work addiction must learn to put into practice different techniques and strategies, such as delegating or using different communication skills.
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Bibliographic references
- Ford, M. T., Heinen, BA, and Langkamer, K. L. (2007). Work and family satisfaction and conflict: A meta-analysis of cross-domain relations. Journal of Applied Psychology. 92(1), 57–80 .
- Meissner, EU (2018). Business Risk Workaholism. Management challenges and action guidelines for professional practice. Berlin: Berlin Peter Lang.
- Robinson, B.E. (2001). Chained to the Desk: A Guidebook for Workaholics, Their Partners and Children, and the Clinicians Who Treat Them. New York: New York University Press.
To the classic question “what do you do?” I always answer “basically I am a psychologist”. In fact, my academic training has revolved around the psychology of development, education and community, a field of study influenced my volunteer activities, as well as my first work experiences in personal services.