Workaholism has negative consequences for physical and mental health, as well as in the family and social field. Stress, lack of sleep, obsessive behavior and relationship problems are just some of the phenomena associated with work addiction. How to distinguish workaholism from passion and healthy commitment? Will psychotherapy help you free yourself from workaholism?
How to recognize workaholism?
Workaholism is a type of addiction, but its identification is not always easy. This applies especially to work enthusiasts who treat their professional activity as a passion, but often do not cross the fine line of compulsion and work obsession. In the case of workaholics, not only commitment to work is observed, but also an imbalance between professional activity and other aspects of life (family, rest, sleep).
It is quite common to overuse the term workaholism – it is a pathological phenomenon, and therefore with disturbing psychological motivations and negative consequences. The mere fact of devoting a lot of time to work is not yet an addiction. Quite characteristic symptoms of workaholismwhich are observed at an early stage include the lack of free time due to bringing work home, constant thinking about work and negative attitudes towards people who use their free time differently. Over time, a work addict begins to experience physical symptoms that may be due to lack of sleep, fatigue, and constant stress. The results include irritability, headaches, malaise, and difficulty concentrating. Such symptoms do not slow down the workaholic, but still overwork and overburden the body.
If a workaholic does not find a way to deal with obsessive work or fails to seek help from a psychotherapist, not only his mental and physical health, but also marital and family relationships may suffer. In the long run, workaholism also increases the risk of heart attacks, anxiety and depression disorders.
- Check: What are the types of psychotherapy? Indications for a visit to a psychotherapist
Psychotherapy in addiction to work
Workaholism is an addiction and, like other addictions, a person with such a problem needs outside help. In this case, psychological support and psychotherapeutic treatment allows you to work through troublesome issues. Recognizing a problem and working on solving it requires the ability to identify work-related compulsive behaviors. They are harmful in the long term and can affect family life as well as family and social relationships of a work addict. It is a psychotherapist who can help in noticing the problem and looking for ways to deal with its symptoms and consequences.
Psychotherapy allows you to identify the causes of work-oriented compulsive behavior. Work addiction can develop in people with specific personality traits, experiences and way of thinking. The underlying problem is often various thought patterns related to the perception of oneself and others, which lead to the formation of specific patterns of behavior. A person addicted to work may:
- perceive your own value only in the context of achievements, social position, earnings;
- to feel lonely, not to be in a group and to use work as a way to avoid social situations;
- show a demanding attitude, have high expectations of oneself and others;
- fear of abandonment and entering into emotional relationships with others, therefore anxiety and discomfort suppresses work, sometimes also alcohol;
- seek recognition and acceptance through work;
- be a perfectionist, stick to rigid rules and subordinate other spheres of life to them.
Identifying patterns of perception of reality and ways of reacting is the first part of psychotherapy. During the meetings, the specialist collects an interview, gets to know the patient and determines whether the problem is actually addiction to work. He also sets the schedule of meetings and the goals of therapy. The most important of them is the patient’s emotional independence from work and modifying his thinking in such a way that he does not make self-esteem dependent on professional activity. It is also important to develop skills that will allow him to fulfill himself outside of work, i.e. in terms of emotionality and interpersonal relations.
- Read more: The course of psychotherapy – contracts, goals, methodology, duration
If workaholism takes a relationship to the brink of divorce, couple psychotherapy is the way to save it.
Sources:
- Dudek B., Work-related stress: theoretical and methodological attitudes of research into the relationship between health and occupational stress, (in 🙂 Górnik-Durose M., Kożusznik B. (eds.) Perspektywy psychology at work. Katowice 2007, pp. 223-246.
- Wojdyło K. Work addiction. Theory – Diagnosis – Psychotherapy, Natanaelum Association, Lublin, 2016.