Workaholic: causes and symptoms of workaholism

Some people feel anxious and irritable if they are not constantly working.

Do you spend most of your time working, do you often take work home with you, are you frequently called on the phone for after-hours work, do you constantly complain that you are not working?Do you get frequent phone calls about work outside of office hours, do you constantly complain that you are short of time, are your conversations almost always about work, and do you always talk about work?

If you answered yes to these questions, it is quite possible that you have become a workaholic.

What is a workaholic?

Wayne Oates proposed the term workaholic to denote a person with work dependence. For Oates, his own relationship to work was like that of an alcoholic's relationship to drink: a continuous and uncontrollable need to work that ends up affecting health, well-being, and relationships with the environment..

Work addiction is defined as a person's excessive involvement in his or her work activity, an irresistible urge to work constantly and the almost complete neglect of leisure activities.

Common Symptoms of Work Addiction

Workaholics have a compelling need to work and when they do not work they experience anxiety, depression or irritability. For a workaholic, work is the center of their life, with everything else, including family or friends, taking a back seat.

They often take unfinished work home with them, do not switch off at weekends and take their laptops with them on vacations to continue working.

Workaholic profile

The most characteristic profile of the workaholic is:

• A special work attitude. They make great efforts to perform at their best and always try to increase their achievements. Not usually refuses new projects, clients or job responsibilities.
• Excessive dedication of time and effort. Usually works more than 45 hours a week, most days, usually taking work home.
• A compulsive and involuntary disorder to continue working.. Works on weekends, when on vacation or even when sick, and if unable to work becomes nervous or irritable.
• General disinterest in any activity other than strictly work.. His main topic of conversation is work, his leisure time is dedicated to work, and if he is doing any other activity he is thinking about the work he has to do.

Effects and consequences for physical and mental health

According to studies by the World Health Organization (WHO), workaholism can lead to mental and physical disorders.. Although it is observed in both genders, it mostly affects male professionals between 35 and 50 years of age, in liberal professions or middle management: executives, doctors, journalists, lawyers, politicians, etc. These people focus their lives on work and are often unaware of the problem, and it is their family or social environment that suffers the consequences.

The problems experienced by the workaholic are similar to those of other addictions, usually affecting their relationships within and outside the work environment, which translates into family and social conflicts and even poor work performance. In addition, conflicts are usually generated in the work environment itself, since they are usually perfectionists who demand a lot from themselves and also from others.

The most common consequences are: anxiety, stress, insomnia or sleep disturbances, depression, problems in couple or family relationships, tendency to social isolation, inability to relax, fatigue, irritability, and health problems such as muscle tension, Cardiovascular disturbances, hypertension, gastric problems, ulcers, etc. In addition, abusive consumption of alcohol, stimulant substances and tobacco is often observed.

The cause lies in the culture

The high value placed by our society on success and high professional performance makes the socio-labor environments conducive to the development of workaholics. Addiction to work, like any other addictive behavior, is negative for the subject because it makes him/her dependent on a situation that harms his/her psychophysiological health, and alters his/her socio-family and work environment.

Bibliographic references:

• Alonso-Fernández F. (2003) Addiction to work. In Las nuevas adicciones. Madrid: TEA ediciones, 225-261.
• Moreno, B., Gálvez, M., Garrosa, H. & Rodríguez, R. (2005). Addiction to work. Psicología conductual, 13(3), 417-428.
• Salanova, M., Del Líbano, M., Llorens, S., Schaufeli, W.B. & Fidalgo, M. (2008). Addiction to work. Instituto Nacional de Seguridad e Higiene en el Trabajo.