The term “workaholism” was introduced into scientific terminology as recently as 1971, when psychologist Wayne Oates defined it as “an obsessive or uncontrollable desire to work.” Since then, this concept has been repeatedly revised and clarified: scientists have not yet reached a consensus whether this phenomenon can be considered one of the forms of non-chemical addiction (and give workaholics the corresponding “official” diagnosis) or simply a maladaptation of social behavior that does not require special treatment.
The American Psychological Association defines workaholism as a combination of three main symptoms:
- an internal feeling of “compulsion” to work; - constant thoughts about work during non-working hours; - working beyond the established or expected norm to the detriment of other areas of life.
These criteria clearly echo the description of other non-chemical addictions, such as gambling, given in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10): “the dominance of gambling in the lives of patients to the detriment of social, professional, material and family values and obligations; compulsive gambling." There is no diagnosis of “workaholism” in ICD-10, but psychiatrists can include it in category F.63.8 “Other disorders of habits and impulses.”
The main distinguishing feature of workaholism as a personality disorder is that work not only occupies the most important place in a person’s life, it becomes an obsession that gradually overshadows everything else.
A workaholic not only loves his profession: he is literally obsessed with it, cannot think about anything else - not about his own health, not about his loved ones, not even about rest and entertainment. Work becomes a “dopamine hook”: that stimulus that causes pleasure over and over again, and each time an increasing number of completed tasks are required for the usual feeling of satisfaction. Very similar to the picture of drug and alcohol use, right?
The only “active substance” in the case of non-chemical addiction are neurotransmitters produced by our own body in response to habitual psychological stimuli. For a gamer, such an incentive is the excitement and excitement in front of a slot machine or card table, and for a workaholic, it is recognition from management and colleagues in the form of bonuses, certificates, praise, or even the very process of solving professional problems and the feeling of one’s own “indispensability” in the workplace.
According to American researcher Mark Griffiths, from 10% to 25% of the working population of the United States are susceptible to workaholism. In European countries the numbers are somewhat lower: for example, in Norway the average percentage of workaholics among the population 18–64 years old is 7.3–8.3%; in Hungary this figure is 8.2%.
In Russia, according to rough estimates by Tomsk researchers, a high level of workaholism is expressed in 12.5% of working citizens. Thus, approximately every tenth worker suffers from real addiction to work!
For comparison: the number of people addicted to gambling, according to various estimates, is only 1.5–3%. Why is workaholism reaching epidemic proportions?
Work as a legal escape from reality
Like any other addiction, workaholism is a variant of “escape” from reality. We all use a similar strategy from time to time: when a problem is not being solved, it is quite reasonable to “pause” it by doing other things. But if people with a healthy psyche sooner or later return to difficulties and overcome them, then for people with various forms of addiction this “pause” never ends - and the problems remain unresolved, gradually growing like a snowball.
The danger of dependence on work is that its development occurs unnoticed not only by the workaholic himself, but often also by those around him. If a person, suffering from the consequences of a difficult divorce, locks himself at home and starts going out only to buy a new portion of alcohol, his loved ones will sound the alarm. A teenager who is misunderstood by no one finds solace in a drug-induced trance - and the parents, as soon as they suspect something is wrong, immediately turn to a psychologist for help.
But what does a person hear who escapes life’s troubles by finding an additional part-time job, or even several? Rare concerned voices will be drowned in a chorus of praise: “Well done! You won’t become slack, but you will develop in your profession!” Moreover, “throwing yourself into work” is often even advised to people going through a difficult emotional period.
It is even more difficult to track the formation of addiction in cases where a person does not experience obvious problems in life, but is simply very passionate about his work. It seems like a dream to do something you love, right? Is it surprising that a young specialist spends time on professional development, thinking about processes and tasks almost 24 hours a day? It's rare that someone is lucky enough to find their calling! But gradually work fills the entire living space, mercilessly crowding out other areas: family, feelings, health, self-care, relaxation, hobbies - and healthy interest imperceptibly turns into a dangerous disorder.
Why is there a problem?
Addiction develops due to a high level of psychological discomfort and personal problems - a person seems to be trying to forget about what is happening in his life, immersed in everyday work. A person does not see himself outside of work. But unresolved interpersonal problems do not go away. On the contrary, they gradually accumulate. This forces the patient to devote even more time to his work responsibilities.
The addict justifies all his failures by being too busy. He relieves himself of responsibility for the deterioration of relationships with family and friends, and does not want to solve everyday problems. Refuses all social contacts. You need to understand that such a conscious departure from normal life is not a consequence, but the main cause of psychological dependence.
It has been noticed that people who are more prone to workaholism are:
- They have inadequately low self-esteem. They try to earn the praise of their superiors and are ready to do anything for this.
- They are dependent on the approval of their parents. These are children of mothers and fathers with high demands. Growing up, they make an effort to be proud of them. And the easiest way to do this is by working hard.
Sometimes workaholism is a symptom of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Then psychologists talk about a behavioral disorder, and not about addiction as such. The person requires complex treatment.
Three types of workaholism
Depending on the motives that encourage one to “escape from reality” into work, Canadian psychologist Ronald Burke identifies three types of workaholics:
"Work Enthusiasts"
They are distinguished by high achievement motivation, desire for career growth and positive self-esteem. In other words, these are workaholics for whom work is the best (and often the only) source of pleasure.
"Enthusiastic Addicts"
They are characterized by an ambivalent attitude towards the profession: successes inspire them, and failures seriously unsettle them; the self-esteem of such people is highly dependent on external assessment from colleagues and managers. This type of workaholic is constantly in a state of “emotional swing” - from delight to despondency and back, and work is the most important stimulus for emotions.
"Work Addicts"
They are motivated not to achieve, but to avoid failures, and are prone to severe emotional burnout and low self-esteem. In other words, for such workaholics, work is the proverbial “suitcase without a handle,” which is incredibly difficult to carry, but also impossible to throw away, since without it all meaning of existence is lost.
Thus, we can talk about the formation of psychological dependence on work in cases where work activity becomes the most significant source of meaning, feelings and experiences for a person - no matter whether positive or negative.
At the same time, all other components of the internal and external reality of the individual are relegated to the background: the workaholic’s priority in any situation will be work.
Women's workaholism - an escape from the “double load”
An interesting trend can be seen in studies of workaholism in men and women. Some researchers argue that work addiction is not related to gender, while others indicate that the risk of developing it in men is significantly higher than in women.
Psychologists Itzhak Harpaz and Rafael Snir explain this contradiction very simply: the scientists’ conclusions depend on the criterion by which the level of workaholism is assessed. When it comes to attitudes towards work, signs of addiction appear approximately equally in both sexes. If behavior is assessed: time spent at work, answering work calls and letters in personal time, etc., workaholic men are in the lead by a wide margin.
The fact is that women in all countries of the world have an unofficial “second shift”: unpaid housework and raising children. Society is ready to support men who hide behind the screen of workaholism from everyday problems, but allow women to do the same?
Well, I do not. You can be deeply immersed in work, putting it first in life, but no one will free you from the responsibilities of caring for children or elderly relatives, providing for everyday life, and don’t even dream of it. As a result, women, among other things, develop a specific motivation that contributes to the development of workaholism: the opportunity to escape from “kitchen slavery” and to feel their importance as a specialist and individual.
If it's serious
If you missed the moment when work began to take up too much space in your life, do not despair, in this case there is a way out. The first, most important and often the most difficult step is to honestly admit to yourself that a problem exists.
The difficulty of “treating” workaholism, like any other addiction, is that the person does not realize for the time being that something is wrong with him
At the second stage, it is important to understand the reason why you devote too much time to work. To do this, answer a few questions in writing:
- When did you start noticing that you were spending too much time working?
- Analyze all the pros and cons of your workaholism.
- What emotions do you experience in moments free from work? At what points in the past have you experienced similar feelings?
By answering these questions, you will gain an understanding of “where the legs grow from.” If the problem comes from childhood, then you cannot do without the help of a psychologist. If the reason is situational, then it can be solved independently.
The third step on the path to healing is your conscious intention to change something in your life. The state of dependence, unfortunately, will not go away on its own: efforts will be required, and considerable ones. The good news is that if you got yourself into this situation, then you can get out of it.
Overwork is harmful to personal life
Why do psychologists consider workaholism as a serious problem? Scientists insist that “going to work” entails negative consequences in both the short and long term.
In a meta-analytic work, American researcher Malissa Clark and her colleagues show that this type of addiction negatively affects both family relationships and the individual’s sense of self.
Psychologists note that workaholism has a bad effect on family life:
- family members are dissatisfied with their relationships with each other and with the performance of family functional responsibilities;
- marital relations are deteriorating, spouses are increasingly dissatisfied with each other;
- the conflict between work and the rest of life intensifies.
But workaholism also has a negative impact on personality:
- dissatisfaction with life is growing;
- emotional burnout increases;
- physical and mental health deteriorates.
An approximate portrait of a typical workaholic is a grumpy, cynical person suffering from pain and neuroses (there is no time to go to the doctors - work!), constantly quarreling with his loved ones and confidently moving towards the destruction of his own family.
The consequences of workaholism and why it is dangerous
Worries about work affect mental and physical health
Neurosis, depression, insomnia. Constant loads disrupt the functioning of the musculoskeletal system and the cardiovascular system. Vision may decrease and immunity may weaken.
Workaholics have no time for family or household chores
Lack of attention leads to various forms of protest in children, and conflicts arise with a partner. The family is usually dissatisfied with the performance of marital or parental responsibilities on the part of the workaholic.
As a person, a workaholic often stops in his development
It is not interesting to communicate with him, and his thinking becomes monotonous. In addition, work overload actually leads to demotions on the career ladder, and sometimes to dismissals.
A stressed employee cannot concentrate. A paradox arises: the more a person works, the less effective he is.
It turns out that usually a workaholic is a boring person who, according to his conviction, is surrounded by a wall of misunderstanding and finds himself in a situation of severe emotional burnout.
Overtime does not contribute to career growth
Perhaps we pay such a high price because our work brings benefits to society and to ourselves? Ruthless statistics say the opposite. The same study provides data on the consequences of workaholism in the professional sphere:
- increased job stress and decreased job satisfaction;
- an increase in counterproductive behavior (mistakes that have to be redone, distractions from work for smoking breaks and conversations, etc.);
- general decrease in labor productivity.
A number of authors argue that hours spent at work pay off in increased pay and career growth. Other researchers refute these observations, emphasizing that apparent success is achieved due to the fact that workaholics create work “for themselves”: for example, they start new projects or complicate existing ones, but these efforts do not affect the real effectiveness of the organizations in which they work .
However, there is a fairly simple explanation for this contradiction: workaholism contributes to an increase in the quantity of work, but not its quality.
Accordingly, in “low-level” positions, where earnings are directly related to time spent (the more operations you perform, the more you get paid), an employee’s workaholism helps improve his well-being. However, in activities that primarily require qualitative growth from a specialist - for example, in managerial, engineering or creative positions - workaholism not only does not help, but also hinders professional development.
What does a violation lead to?
Common consequences of workaholism include:
depression;- high levels of stress;
- constant anxiety;
- chronic fatigue, loss of vital energy;
- insomnia;
- family problems;
- increased risk of addiction to alcohol or drugs.
The last factor is due to the fact that the workaholic does not know how to relax and relieve stress. In order to turn off his brain for at least a few hours, he begins to drink alcohol or, even worse, use psychoactive substances.
Why do we become workaholics?
There is no single answer to this question, since there are many factors influencing the development of addiction. There are several types of prerequisites for the formation of dependence on work.
Cultural. In many cultures, working outside the home is considered an “indulgence” from fulfilling other social roles: family, friendship, kinship, etc. Thus, people facing difficulties in personal relationships, instead of reflecting and analyzing their own “I,” find an easy loophole , hiding behind the image of a Very Busy Person - this model can be passed on from generation to generation for decades with the full support of others.
Social. Researchers point to the connection between workaholism and the characteristics of a person’s upbringing in the parental family. Excessive demands, strict control, and “cold” relationships can lead to the formation of an inferiority complex, which then spills over into a pathological desire to prove one’s worth through work. This is also facilitated by the harsh, authoritarian approach to raising and teaching children in schools and kindergartens: after ten years of believing that excellent students are better than poor students in everything, it is not difficult to transfer the neurotic desire to be an “excellent student” into adulthood.
Personal. A number of character traits increase the risk of becoming dependent on work. Such characteristics include perfectionism, a high achievement orientation, perseverance, high organization, a tendency to control, etc. Workaholism, in fact, “sharpens” these traits: accuracy turns into painful pedantry, personal stability into ponderous conservatism, etc. . P.
Physiological. Some congenital features of the nervous system increase the risk of developing addictions. These include the predominance of inhibition processes over excitation processes in the cerebral cortex, high stability and weak switchability of the nervous system. People with such characteristics are “phlegmatic” who find it difficult to switch from one activity to another or combine the performance of several social roles at once. In some cases, it may be difficult for them to switch from work tasks to household or other tasks, and then “switch on” back, so work can gradually take up more and more living space.
Economic. Low wages or lack of social security often force people to take on more and more work to provide for themselves and their children. Often this work has to be combined with unpaid domestic work, since hiring staff or buying household appliances is simply unaffordable. Gradually, children grow up and become more autonomous, wages and living standards gradually rise, but the ingrained habit of working a lot and hard, as well as uncertainty about the future, forces them to continue to work “exhaustively.”
What will happen to a workaholic if he continues to burn out again and again?
First of all, the tendency to obsessive states will increase. In addition, a vicious circle will begin to form: excessive perfectionism pushes a person towards workaholism, workaholism increases the level of stress, the level of stress increases fixation and perfectionism. The circle is closed. Most often, this algorithm eventually develops into anxiety and depressive disorders. If a person’s work sphere fails, he essentially loses the meaning of life, since other “compartments” of life are not established for him. Sometimes this transforms into a hypochondriacal disorder, in which a person begins to look for illnesses in himself. This is how the psyche tries to distract the workaholic from work.
Workaholism - or the need to survive?
Many people, including journalists and sometimes even psychologists, equate workaholism with endless work (or even two or three), which is fundamentally wrong.
Unfortunately, our country is a country of “working beggars”: this is even confirmed by Rosstat estimates (and official statistics, as we remember, can be safely divided by two or by five in order to get a picture closer to reality).
The median salary - again according to official estimates - is approximately 33 thousand rubles: this means that in order to ensure at least a minimally acceptable standard of living for themselves and their children, many Russians and Russian women are forced to “spin”: earn 2-3 wages on official and “gray” » part-time jobs; sew, knit, bake cakes to order; “taxi” in the evenings, etc.
Does this make such people workaholics? No, if their priorities are not “work for work’s sake,” but their own well-being or the interests of their family.
In such cases, people do not need psychological help at all, but respect for their rights to decent wages, quality healthcare, paid for from “hidden” fees to social and pension insurance funds, accessible education, etc.
Why don't you go see a psychotherapist?
Sometimes neither practicing sleep hygiene nor having free time to rest helps a person sleep better. The burden of problems, obsession with work, and constant stress still do not allow him to relax. Alas, psychological problems that often lead to insomnia cannot always be easily overcome on your own.
What exactly do you think prevents you from falling asleep? It could be hidden depression that you may not be aware of. Or your workaholism, which creates feelings of guilt if you intend to “loaf” while lying in bed. Or the ridiculous idea that the more you work hard and torture yourself, the more successful your business will be. There are many options. But the exact cause of insomnia is probably unknown even to you.
Such situations require contacting a psychotherapist. With the help of a doctor, you will understand yourself, he will help you overcome fears and complexes, allow you to adequately assess what is happening around you, improve your relationships with others and improve your sleep. As a result, from a nervous, tired, twitchy person you can again become the confident, calm and purposeful person you were before. This will help you both in work and in life.
Checklist for testing for workaholism
The criteria by which work dependence is determined are divided into two groups: behavioral and psychological.
With behavioral ones, everything is more or less simple: just calculate how many hours a week you spend on work, answering business calls and letters, consulting colleagues, etc. If the total time exceeds 60 hours a week, this is a reason to think about whether everything is okay. okay with your attitude towards work.
However, psychologists rightly point out that time spent on work cannot be the only criterion for determining workaholism. Much more important are indicators related to the attitude towards work and towards other people: obsessive attraction to work, hypercontrol, difficulties with communication.
You may consider yourself a workaholic if:
— you cannot delegate work tasks to subordinates or colleagues, preferring to independently carry out and control all stages of the project; - spend more time and mental energy on work than on communicating with family and friends; - think or worry about work during rest, before bed, on vacation, etc.; - get annoyed if your colleagues do not perform work at the highest quality level; - you lose your composure if work plans suddenly break down for some reason; - feel guilty when you cannot do work for objective reasons; — between family and work matters, you always choose work; - you feel constantly busy, most often with several things at the same time.
At least half of the matches with these statements clearly indicate the presence of a problem with work addiction. The best thing to do in this situation is to seek advice from a psychologist or psychotherapist who specializes in working with non-chemical addictions.
Most likely, the psychologist will ask you to undergo a diagnosis: answer a series of test questions, talk about your vision of the problem, and then, through small tasks, conversations and joint reflections, will help you find a way to return to a normal life balance and turn work addiction into a healthy relationship to your business.
It is extremely important to be able to separate a truly psychological problem from working too hard for the sake of survival. In conditions where a family cannot afford an extra pair of shoes for adults or a ticket to a summer camp for a child (and, alas, such families in Russia are the majority), “treating” for workaholism is, alas, an unaffordable luxury.
Another question is that in the future, when the financial hole is left behind, “involuntarily workaholics” will face the same consequences as other addicts: poor health, damaged relationships with loved ones, reduced self-esteem and an endless feeling of unfillable inner emptiness.
More than just passion
The very definition of “workaholism” appeared back in 1971. It was invented by American psychologist Wayne Edward Oates - by workaholism he meant “an uncontrollable need to work continuously.” Oates described a workaholic as a person whose need to constantly work exceeds all reasonable boundaries, which negatively affects health, happiness, relationships with people and social adaptation.
Subsequently, scientists continued to study this phenomenon - and it turned out that everything with workaholism is quite complex and confusing.
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First: you need to distinguish workaholism from simple involvement in your activities. Engagement—for example, when a person enters a state of “flow” and is willing to work more than 50 hours a week—can be beneficial: research shows that such people are healthier, more satisfied with their lives, and perform better. But for workaholics, the opposite is true - they risk losing their health, destroying family relationships, and they are often dissatisfied with their work and do it worse than others. What is the difference?
The second important fact is that workaholics almost always invest more time and energy into their work than necessary. It is not so important how many hours a week a person works - it is this attitude towards activity that distinguishes workaholism from healthy involvement. A workaholic is obsessed with his work and tries to do more than is required of him - but, as we have already noted, this does not always have a positive effect on efficiency and does not necessarily lead to high results, but rather the opposite.
Finally, like any addiction, workaholism has a certain development pattern - that very “vicious circle” through which a person is drawn into destructive behavior. At the very beginning, of course, work should bring pleasure or at least temporary satisfaction - otherwise how will a person “get hooked” on it? But over time, it turns out that the relief caused by immersion in work wears off very quickly - and you need to invest more and more time and effort to get the high. Doesn't remind you of anything? Ultimately, the workaholic reaches a point where he or she simply “needs” to work, even though he or she no longer wants to and the activity is no longer enjoyable. And from here it’s already one step to burnout, problems with health, psyche and relationships - like any addicted people.
Five steps from workaholism to healthy hard work
Step 1. Weigh the risks
First of all, you need to assess whether you are at “risk” for developing workaholism. To do this, you can take one of the psychological tests: for example, the “Workaholism” questionnaire by E.P. Ilyin and calculate the results in accordance with the key. In addition, it is useful to estimate the total amount of time you devote directly to work or thoughts about it: too high a result indicates the risk of addiction.
Step 2. Assess your balance
An extremely useful practice is assessing the balance between different areas of life, allowing you to understand whether your resources are distributed harmoniously enough and whether you have enough opportunities for rest and recovery after work.
There are simple techniques for this: for example, keep track of your own affairs during the week, and then calculate whether there is a clear excess of time in one of the areas “work”, “family/relatives”, “leisure”, “hobbies”, etc.
Another option is to make a diagram on a separate sheet: write down the main areas of your life in a column, next to each draw a segment from 0 to 10 centimeters long, corresponding to your assessment of your own satisfaction in these areas. As guidelines, you can take the following values: 0 - “everything is very bad”, 3 - “rather bad than good”, 5 - “something in between”, 7 - “rather good than bad”, 10 - “everything is excellent”. Next, it’s worth looking at the resulting picture: are there any noticeable “outliers” towards 0 or 10, or is everything relatively smooth? Or maybe all the segments turned out to be very short and it’s worth thinking not about workaholism, but about whether you have depression or emotional exhaustion?..
Step 3: Use Self-Help Techniques
If you realize that you are at risk, and your life balance is slowly but surely shifting towards prioritizing work over everything else, you can use one or more psychological self-help techniques. These include, for example, planning your own affairs, taking into account not only work tasks, but also mandatory time “for yourself”: rest, pleasant communication, restoration of health - at least 4 hours every day. You can use one of the autotraining options, use the “Balance Wheel” technique, etc.
Step 4. Ask for feedback
If the problem of developing work addiction begins to bother you, talk to people who know you well - do they notice the changes happening to you? Do your loved ones suffer from your lack of attention, do family members feel abandoned? Is there a way they can support you, such as spending more time together, reminding you to rest, etc. - and are you willing to accept their help?
If such a dialogue is impossible for some reason, it is quite normal to seek the help of a specialist in a one-time psychological consultation. It won’t take very much time, but it will help you put everything in order in your head.
Step 5. Psychological assistance
Let us remind you once again: workaholism is a serious problem that requires special therapy! If you or someone close to you suffers from work addiction, then qualified help is required, and the sooner the better. Mental health (as well as physical health) is an issue in which it is better to be overly vigilant than to overlook a serious disorder that will then take years to correct.
Main signs of workaholism
The symptoms of the described disorder cannot be called specific. They do not necessarily indicate the presence of workaholism. But the regular occurrence of several of them at once should make a person think about whether he is going the right way.
Psychologists pay attention to the following signs of the disease:
haste, eternal haste;- constant employment, inability to find a few minutes to talk on unrelated topics;
- impatience;
- nagging thoughts about work;
- the need to keep the situation under control;
- memory impairment;
- decreased attention characteristics;
- no need for rest;
- frequent conflicts with others;
- ignoring one's own needs and interests.
Sometimes psychologists include excessively active participation in the organization and conduct of all corporate events as symptoms of addiction.
