Work Addiction

Signs Of A Work Addiction

A workaholic or someone with a work addiction is preoccupied with work to the point that it interferes with their personal relationships, self-care, social engagements, and overall well-being.

It can be fulfilling to work, reach goals, make money, and enjoy the successes of your hard work. However, it is possible to become addicted.

There is ample evidence that work addiction is a mental health disorder that has affected people for many years. It is a behavioral addiction that causes adverse consequences, including physical and psychological problems. Despite these consequences, however, a workaholic cannot stop working.

Signs of a work addiction may vary from person to person. Many assessments evaluate behaviors associated with the disorder. You or someone you know may exhibit the following:

• Working overtime even when it is not necessary or required
• Choosing to work rather than get much-needed sleep
• Obsessing on achieving success at work
• Obsessing over and fearing doing a poor job at work
• Allowing work to interfere with healthy relationships
• Using work as a coping method to deal with negative emotions
• Working to avoid dealing with personal problems
• Making work a priority over family, friends, health, etc.
• Preferring to work even if it interrupts planned activities
• Needing to feel in control or achieve perfection
• Losing memory of conversations due to exhaustion
• Having trouble relaxing or enjoying non-work-related activities

Some people may claim these are characteristics of a hard-working person who enjoys their job and, on the surface, this may seem to be the case. Beneath the surface, however, are adverse consequences resulting from workaholic behaviors.

Symptoms Of Work Addiction

Someone close to you may call you a workaholic or tell you that you have a work addiction. This may or may not be true, so getting an accurate diagnosis is crucial.

Symptoms of work addiction are like those of other behavioral addictions and can be assessed using the Bergen Work Addiction Scale components, including:

• Cognitive or behavioral salience: Your thoughts and feelings are influenced by work.
• Tolerance: You must increase your time working to achieve a high from work.
• Mood modification: Engaging in work-related activities helps you avoid having a negative mood.
• Relapse: Returning to workaholic behaviors after cutting back or quitting.
• Withdrawal: Not working causes negative emotions.
• Conflict: Working too much interferes with relationships and fulfilling responsibilities in other areas of your life.
• Health or other problems: Physical or psychological conditions worsen due to working and not caring for yourself.

A licensed mental health professional can administer the Bergen Addiction Work Scale and interpret your results. They can help you determine if you have a work addiction and, if so, create a treatment plan for how to overcome it.

Negative Effects

Work addiction leads to adverse effects personally, socially, and even professionally. Some of the most common effects on a person’s life include:

• No work-life balance
• Reduced social functioning
• Problems in family relationships
• Problems in intimate relationships
• Problems in friend relationships
• Problems in coworker relationships
• Lack of career satisfaction

There can also be negative effects on a person’s physical and mental health, causing or worsening ailments that could be prevented. Work addiction can lead to a deterioration in health and, ultimately, life-threatening outcomes.

Causes Of Work Addiction

Developing a work addiction is the result of multiple risk factors. Risk factors make you more likely to develop an addiction. The more risk factors you have, the higher the chances. Risk factors for work addiction may include the following:

• Home and family stressors
• Traumatic experiences
• Stressful childhood
• Mental health disorders
• Environmental stressors
• Low self-esteem

These risk factors are comparable to the risk factors for other addictions. If there are unhealthy or unresolved issues in your life, from the past or currently, they may lead to additional problems. It is common for people to engage in addictive behaviors, whether it be substance misuse, gambling addiction, or working to feel better. However, in the long term, it makes everything worse.

How Work Addiction Affects Loved Ones

Work addiction negatively impacts your family and friends. While you may think it only affects you, it can affect the mental and physical health of the people you love. Some ways in which work addiction impacts loved ones include:

• Loneliness and isolation
• Depression and anxiety
• Frustration
• Emotional challenges
• Exhaustion over handling all other responsibilities themselves
• Financial problems
• Relationship problems
• Lack of intimacy

If you choose to spend more time at work than at home with your spouse, they may feel neglected. They may also feel rejected because you don’t want to engage with them emotionally or physically. Likewise, children who have parents with a work addiction may feel it is their fault. They think that if they were better, then you would want to be around them more. Children who participate in sports or other activities wish to see their parents in the audience, cheering them on. A parent with a work addiction may miss these opportunities, leaving a child feeling unloved, confused, and disappointed.

Making work or anything else a priority over your loved ones can lead to broken relationships. Children may try to cope by engaging in unhealthy behaviors. Spouses may seek to meet their emotional needs outside of the marriage. Family members may distance themselves from you. If you do not get help for your work addiction, it can have a domino effect on others around you.

How To Overcome A Work Addiction

Overcoming a work addiction is not an overnight process and typically requires the help of a licensed mental health professional with experience helping others with work addiction. The first step is to request an assessment, an interview where a therapist asks you questions to ensure you get an accurate diagnosis.

Treatment plans for overcoming a work addiction include behavioral therapies through individual and group activities, peer support, and medication if you have any underlying mental health symptoms.

Medications

If you developed an addiction to help you cope with anxiety, depression, mania, or any other mental health symptoms, you may benefit from antidepressant or antianxiety medications. Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) and Selective Norepinephrine Reuptake Inhibitors (SNRIs) are the first line of treatment.

Behavioral Therapies

Behavioral therapies teach you how to change your thinking to improve your behaviors. When dealing with work addiction, you may need to change thoughts related to feeling like a failure, paranoia, competition, or simply not feeling good enough. These thoughts can lead to you engaging in work-related activities to help you feel better. Types of behavioral therapies commonly used  include:

• Cognitive-behavioral therapy
• Mindfulness-based CBT
• Couples therapy
• Family therapy

You and your therapist will determine specific treatments based on your assessment to help you learn how to overcome work addiction without challenging withdrawal or transitional effects. You and your loved ones must seek treatment to learn how to help you maintain workaholism recovery and heal any broken relationships.

Peer Support

Workaholics Anonymous is a great place to get the support you need during recovery from work addiction. It follows the same 12-step guidelines as Alcoholics Anonymous, with a spiritual component. You can start by visiting the Workaholics Anonymous website to read literature, take an assessment, and find a meeting near you.

Start Online Therapy For Work Addiction

Online therapy can include individual, group, couple, and family therapies that have been successful in treating work addiction. If you’re ready to make a change and seek help, explore your online therapy options today to get started.