Workaholism is a disease of a business person. Causes and treatment. Workaholism is a disease

Workaholism is a person’s pathological dependence on his work activity, when he can only get true joy and pleasure by completing assignments and assignments. A person only sees this as his calling, an opportunity to self-realize and gain approval from others. Over time, the workaholic becomes not satisfied with his work and he takes on any opportunities just to stay in the office or takes work home.

Such psychological dependence is extremely dangerous, since a person loses interest in everything that does not relate to professional activities. First of all, family, children and communication with others suffer. A person is not interested in anything that does not relate to work; all conversations come down only to this topic. Addiction causes a person’s physical health and psycho-emotional state to deteriorate. Workaholism often leads to...

There can be many reasons for workaholism; let’s look at the main and most popular ones:

Forms and signs of workaholism

It is quite simple to distinguish a workaholic from a person devoted to his work. The main signs of pathological dependence on work activity:

There are several forms of workaholism:

How to deal with workaholism

It is important to understand that workaholism is a serious addiction that requires the help of specialists. It is extremely rare that people realize there is a problem and try to fix it themselves. In most cases, wanting to get rid of pathology, workaholics replace work with another addiction - alcohol, gambling or drugs, so it is extremely important to help the person cope with the problem and prevent the condition from worsening.
You can help a workaholic, but to do this he must take two main steps:

• Recognizing that there is a problem is an important step on the path to recovery. It is necessary for a person to understand the negative consequences of such dependence.
• Learn to say “no” to offers of additional work, to helping colleagues when there is no urgent need for it, to delays after the end of the working day.

In order to get rid of work addiction, you must follow the following recommendations:

If you can’t cope with your addiction on your own (or even with the help of friends and family), be sure to contact. There is nothing scary or shameful about this. A specialist will help you cope with the problem and show you the world from the other side, where there are many interesting things besides work.

Workaholism is a pathological addiction that requires professional help and awareness of the problem. The only chance to get rid of the disease is to find other ways in life to gain joy, pleasure and self-realization. It is impossible to cope with the problem on your own, so a workaholic definitely needs the support of family, friends or a psychologist.

Psychologists and scientists have tried to figure out exactly how the brain of a workaholic works and what makes a completely ordinary person work overtime even without paying for hard work.

What are the dangers of workaholism?

As a rule, men suffer from workaholism, but recently more and more women are showing symptoms of this disease. Why is workaholism considered a negative concept, because it would seem that the more a person does, the more he achieves in his work, the faster he climbs the career ladder. In fact, workaholics very rarely achieve real success because they get too caught up in the little things and the main goal of the work is never achieved.

Moreover, a chronic workaholic does not know how to rest and relax at all. He does not like to rest, because he considers it a waste of time and a manifestation of laziness. As a result, vitality decreases, and at the same time the emotional background deteriorates, and serious health problems appear.

A workaholic has little interest in anything other than work, even if it does not bring him real joy. Walking with friends and family dinners are also perceived by the workaholic as a waste of time, which greatly affects personal and family relationships.

Symptoms of workaholism

Do you suspect the beginnings of workaholism in yourself or your loved ones? Well, let's look at the main signs of this “disease”; perhaps you really have something to fear:

• Obsessive thoughts about work and unfinished business;
• Intense fear of failure;
• Irritation and anger when a person is distracted from work;
• Rest is perceived as laziness, not recuperation;
• Depression due to lack of work, a strong desire to occupy oneself with something;
• Excessive concentration on trifles;
• Lack of interest in other aspects of life;
• Excessive demands on yourself.

Previously, it was believed that only certain groups of people were susceptible to workaholism, but in fact, no one is immune from this “illness.”

Causes of workaholism

1. Perfectionism

A perfectionist can work hard even at a job he doesn’t like without the opportunity to catch his breath just because, in his opinion, everything should be done in the best possible way. Typically, perfectionism affects all aspects of life. If there is no work, a person will switch to other areas: children, relatives, hobbies, etc.

2. Trouble at home

The second reason for workaholism is the reluctance to go home and manage free time. Of course, if a grumpy husband, capricious children and other eternal problems are waiting at home, the desire to go home sharply decreases. Some desperate workaholics are even willing to stay away from home for days and spend time on business trips just to feel freedom.

3. When no one is waiting for you...

Loneliness is another reason for workaholism. If no one is waiting for you at home, then what is the point of going there? Single people prefer to work more if possible.

4. Most Valuable Employee

The desire to feel in one’s place greatly influences the number of hours a person spends at work. If a person feels that he is valued at work and he really likes his work, other areas of life, such as communicating with friends and relaxing with family, will lose all meaning.

5. High anxiety

Highly anxious people are also highly susceptible to workaholism, because such individuals constantly doubt their competence; it is important for them to daily confirm their knowledge and skills through practice. The higher the achievements, the less anxiety, but the slightest mistake turns into a personal disaster with loss of self-esteem.

6. Reluctance to live

Read more

In some difficult cases, workaholism can indicate a person’s reluctance to live at all...Working to the point of exhaustion is a kind of slow way of committing suicide. Such a person does not want to commit suicide because of condemnation and fear, so he takes risks in other ways: he works until he loses consciousness, abuses bad habits, drives recklessly on the road, engages in extreme sports, etc. As a rule, it is precisely such individuals who require more support and prompt intervention from a good psychologist.

7. Work addiction

Workaholism as an addiction is no less dangerous than alcoholism, and withdrawal symptoms for a workaholic and an alcoholic are almost the same. Both will rush around in search of the desired “dose” and will not be able to find peace until they get what they want. In principle, workaholism is considered a less dangerous addiction than, for example, alcoholism. But this is a misleading impression. Hard work without rest leads to the accumulation of fatigue and the appearance of chronic stress syndrome, which, in turn, provokes the development of serious diseases.

8. Workaholism under pressure

An “emergency worker” is not considered a real workaholic. Such a person can spend half of his working time gossiping with colleagues or playing on the computer and only remembering his responsibilities at the end of the day. And in order to finish everything on time, you have to stay late in the office and work under tight deadlines. By the way, “emergency workers” often like to work under conditions of stress and rush work, so even with a huge amount of free time to complete the work, he will leave things until the very last moment.

9. Anger at yourself or others

Anger and anger are usually perceived as exclusively negative emotions that need to be gotten rid of as quickly as possible. But these strong emotions can also serve as a powerful source of motivation to achieve. And the stronger the anger, the greater the desire to achieve something.

As a result of numerous experiments, scientists have been able to prove that anger has a huge impact on human motivation. Moreover, the person himself may not even know what the true reason for his workaholism and enormous willpower is.

10. Running away from problems

When personal life is not going well, many people try to go full-time into work. This method of getting rid of anxiety really helps, although it does not solve the real problems. It is a great temptation to lose yourself in work and constant activities, to forget about real values ​​and sincere joy out of reluctance to find a way out of the situation.

You used to love going fishing regularly, but now you wonder what you could like about this meaningless vigil with a fishing rod on the shore? When asked by friends when you can find time to sit with them at a bar over a glass of beer, you answer, puzzled, “I don’t know,” and, having studied your work calendar in your communicator, you doubtfully set a date in two months? Have you completely forgotten what the word “vacation” means, and all you want to talk about is your job? If the answer to all questions is yes, please accept my sincere condolences: you have definitely been sucked into the swamp of workaholism.

The term itself was coined by American psychologist Wayne Watts in 1968, composing it from two words - “work” and “alcoholism.” The neologism very soon came into widespread use and was included in the Oxford English Dictionary. Watts revealed the essence of this phenomenon in his book “Confessions of a Workaholic,” which became especially popular in the 90s of the 20th century thanks to the “Help Yourself” movement widespread at that time, dedicated to liberation from addictions, which, along with drug addiction and drunkenness, was equated with workaholism.

Idle pastime is not the lot of workaholics. Only work makes them happier and occupies all their thoughts. Well, dad couldn’t come to his daughter’s school play! Staying in the office and finishing the report was much more important. Workaholics get terribly annoyed when others have priorities that are one step higher than work. Holidays? Weekend? Vacation with family? "Nonsense! Nonsense!" - would exclaim the inveterate workaholic Ebenezer Scrooge, a character in Charles Dickens' immortal work A Christmas Carol. Workaholics heroically fight weekends as something harmful, not understanding why they are needed at all when it is necessary to work, and they despise sleep, finding it a useless waste of time.

Thanks to modern technology, workaholics can handle business matters even outside the office through mobile phones, tablets or laptops. However, blaming technological progress for the development of workaholism is the same as blaming a supermarket for developing food addiction, and calling the liquor department a breeding ground for drunkenness. Easy access to work and long hours of work do not turn a person into a workaholic. It would be a mistake to apply this term to people working overtime and working hard to get a raise to send their kids to college. Such workers dream of a vacation on the seaside or at a ski resort and value leisure time spent with family and friends. But if a true workaholic has the misfortune of being on vacation, he feels like a fish out of water. Unable to relax, he languishes with melancholy and longs to return to the office and his duties as soon as possible. Obsessed with a thirst for activity, just like an alcoholic, unnoticed by those around him, sipping from bottles hidden in hiding places throughout the house, he secretly tries to immerse himself through the Internet in his familiar world of permanent employment.

It would seem that workaholics are the dream of any boss! A staff consisting of employees who come to work at the crack of dawn and sit until late, shouldering mountains of work. And you can only push them out on vacation or sick leave. But it is precisely these qualities that turn out to be harmful. Workaholics are always looking for ways to stand out from the crowd by taking full responsibility for their work results. However, work obsession and perfectionism prevent workaholics from being good team players. As a rule, they are not able to entrust one of their colleagues with a certain piece of work, being in the belief that no one can do it better than them. Like gluttons who try to bite off more than they can chew, workaholics overload themselves with too many tasks that they simply cannot complete on time. Workaholics are terrified that if they don’t work hard, they will get laid off, and they are constantly nervous in the process of completing a particular project, even when everything is going like clockwork. They ignore weekends and postpone vacations endlessly, neglecting sleep and sometimes personal hygiene.

Workaholics manage to not stop working even while eating, and their food consists mainly of coffee with a cigarette in between. And the consequence of long hours of work without proper rest is nervous exhaustion, characterized by symptoms such as chronic fatigue, forgetfulness, insomnia, irritability, depression, headaches and sudden mood swings, which together means a decrease or complete loss of performance. Therefore, there is nothing to be surprised that from the point of view of doctors workaholism is a disease, a mental disorder that is a serious illness that is dangerous to the human body.

Causes of workaholism

According to psychological research, the seeds of workaholism are often sown in childhood, taking root and flourishing in adulthood. For people from dysfunctional families, obsession with work is an attempt to control an uncontrollable situation. And children of perfectionist parents grow up in constant stress, being sure that they are not doing everything well enough, because brilliant achievements are expected of them without any reservations. The essence of the problem is that any person striving for unattainable perfection is prone to workaholism, since he finds himself in a situation in which he is unable to reach the finish line, painfully reminiscent of the squirrel in the wheel from Krylov’s fable.

But what about the predictions about an idle society and escape from long hours of work? At the end of the 18th century, one of the founding fathers of the United States, Benjamin Franklin, whose portrait appears on the hundred dollar bill, predicted that in the 21st century people would work four hours a week. In 1965, a United States Senate subcommittee predicted a 22-hour workweek by the mid-1980s and a 14-hour week by the start of the third millennium. However, none of these predictions came true. Quite the contrary: over the past 20 years, the number of working hours has been steadily increasing.

In the US and UK, for example, every sixth person works more than 60 hours a week, and according to Canadian statistics, about a third of the country's residents are workaholics. In the Netherlands, obsession with work has given rise to a new illness called “leisure sickness,” which experts estimate affects 3% of the population. On weekends and vacations, workers, deprived of the need to work, lose peace of mind and become physically ill.

In Japan, presenteeism has become a social scourge. In many companies, a 12-hour workday is considered commonplace, and employees often sleep in the office because there is no point in wasting time traveling home. Large firms demand absolute flexibility from their workers, and although most Japanese employees are entitled to 30 days of vacation, many take no more than six days off for fear of being fired. The terminal stage of workaholism in the Land of the Rising Sun is called “karoshi”, which means death from overwork. Stressful work without rest causes thousands of deaths a year, including suicide, and provokes about 5% of strokes and heart attacks among Japanese employees under the age of 60. This is exactly what happened to Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, who was literally knocked off his feet by intense work. In April 2000, while coordinating the volcanic eruption on Hokkaido, the Prime Minister was hospitalized with a severe stroke after several days of nerve-wracking nerves. On the same day, he lost consciousness and fell into a coma, and a month later, without regaining consciousness, he died.

Social conditions often create a favorable breeding ground for the development of workaholism. Work-obsessed people tend to be smart, ambitious, and entrepreneurial. Their brilliant career and financial well-being evoke envy and admiration. But from the outside it is not visible that the lifestyle of these “darlings of fate”, who are captive of addiction, is like a noose around the neck, which sooner or later will begin to tighten.

An effective fertilizer for workaholism is the widespread misconception that hard work is the path to wealth and prosperity, and the only way to achieve what you want is to work much harder than others. However, living examples easily refute this imaginary formula for success. One of the richest men in the world, Warren Buffett, has a small office with only a few people on staff. He himself devotes only about three hours a day to work, not neglecting weekends.

And Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, who were elected president of the United States twice, were never fans of hard work. Although, if we remember the late head of Apple, Steve Jobs, who achieved sky-high success in life, he was a famous workaholic. As, by the way, is his successor Tim Cook, who starts sending emails to colleagues at half past four in the morning, and on Sundays torments managers with conference calls.

How to treat workaholism?

The reality is that workaholism is just the tip of the iceberg, an outward manifestation of a deep internal emotional disorder. Despite obvious symptoms, work-obsessed people categorically deny their addiction. Like patients suffering from anorexia, who, looking at the reflection of their skinny body in the mirror, contrary to common sense, see themselves as fat. Therefore, treatment of workaholism should begin with awareness of the problem and the desire to break out of the shackles of addiction. For a workaholic, using weekends and vacations as intended is like learning to walk again. The help of family and friends with the assistance of professionals such as psychologists plays a significant role in successful healing.

Happiness is when work brings pleasure, but it is just part of your existence, and after a hard day it is better to stay in the office and not interfere with communication with your family at home. You work to live, not live to work. It should not be the only source of positive emotions, as happens with workaholics. Maintain a work-life balance. If your job is all you have, then an impressive resume and colossal work achievements will be little consolation in your illness and loneliness. Is it so important to have a manic desire to get a promotion and an increase in salary in order to buy a big house and a luxury car if there are no more friends, family relationships are in ruins, and one day you will have a stroke from overexertion? Learn to enjoy life, because it's not just sitting at your desk. The ability to work hard is much more valuable if it is harmoniously combined with the art of competently organizing your leisure time.

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Workaholism is a type of psychological addiction when work becomes the center of a person’s entire life.

Another term immediately comes to mind, associated with increased attention to work - careerism. True, there is a significant difference between careerism and workaholism.

With careerism, a person’s main goal is to achieve certain heights at work in order to realize his dreams and plans (earn more, climb the social ladder). Work is just a way to achieve a goal, an intermediate stage.

With workaholism, work is the basis of everything. A person is practically not interested in the final result. He is completely concentrated on performing specific tasks, pays excessive attention to details, tries to “polish” everything, to make it perfect. At the heart of workaholism there is no goal to achieve the final result; the most important thing is the process of doing the work itself.

With workaholism, an addicted person is not interested in family, recreation, everyday life, or friends. Even if such a person has some kind of hobby, it is directly related to work.

If we talk about who is more likely to become a workaholic, then the number of men with such an addiction is many times greater than the number of women. True, this disease is gradually affecting the female half of the population, because recently many women, along with men, are immersed in work.

Causes of workaholism

We all come from childhood. And most of our problems and complexes come from there.

If a child has been instilled in childhood with the idea that work is the most important thing in life, and that one should try to fulfill one’s duties as best as possible, then over time he risks growing up to be a workaholic.

Another option for the development of a workaholic is a child with an alcoholic father. Seeing constant conflicts in the family, problems with the father at work, his son may try with all his might to become completely different from his father. This is where a predisposition to workaholism arises.

When a person has practically no bright moments in his life, his personal life is not going well, but he has some successes at work, he tries to direct all his energy to what he does best - work. Well, why waste time building some kind of relationship if it’s unlikely to work out? It’s better to feel successful at work by devoting all of yourself to some activity. Thus, workaholism develops as a way of escaping from solving life’s problems.

Signs of workaholism

• systematic thinking;
• stubbornness;
• fear of failure;
• excessive attention to detail;
• lack of interest in anything other than work;
• constant thoughts about work;
• difficulties in making a specific decision, careful and lengthy weighing of all the pros and cons;
• the appearance of irritation, anxiety, if such a person is not at work, or when the completion of a certain task comes to an end;
• upon completion of a certain task, thoughts immediately arise about the next task;
• there is no feeling of joy or satisfaction after some task is completed;
• increased demands on oneself and the work performed;
• rest is perceived by such a person only as a sign of laziness.

Classification of workaholics

Workaholic for yourself– such a person does not look for excuses for his excessive love for work.
Workaholic for others– a person explains his constant employment at work by the fact that he is trying to improve the financial situation in the family, help the company, etc.
Successful workaholic– a person who, despite being a workaholic, achieves certain career heights.
Workaholic Loser– a person who performs absolutely unnecessary, unclaimed work; Some workaholics try to do all the little things as accurately as possible, and because of this they fail to cope with the task as a whole.
Hidden workaholic– such a person realizes that his workaholism is too pronounced, that work is the meaning of his life, so in front of others he demonstrates a lack of interest in work, says that he hates his job.

Consequences of workaholism

1. Workaholism, like any addiction, has a negative impact on a person’s life, because a workaholic perceives only a small “piece” of the world associated with work. The joys of family or personal life, recreation, travel, human communication are incomprehensible to him.
2. Workaholism affects health: constant overwork and anxiety associated with work can lead to the development of chronic fatigue and diseases of the cardiovascular and digestive systems.
3. When problems arise at work, mental disorders may develop – depression, insomnia.
4. Workaholism can lead to serious conflicts in the family (even divorce), because living with a person who absolutely does not fulfill his role as a husband and father is very difficult.

Treatment of workaholism

Many people try to justify workaholism and call it a disease. The search begins for “magic pills” that can overcome this disease. And this option is initially a dead end. It is impossible to get rid of workaholism in one day.

In fact, workaholism is an addiction, an escape from life. To eliminate this dependence or at least reduce its severity, it is necessary to understand the reasons that led to its occurrence. The best option for help is working with a psychologist. However, until a person admits that he is a workaholic, it is unlikely that the situation will change.

In addition, it is necessary to “retrain” the workaholic, to show him that there is an interesting life outside of work - family joys, travel, recreation.

You can change a workaholic only with the help of love and understanding. Ultimatums and scandals will not help in this matter.

It is necessary to remember that workaholism is a unique way of life, so it will not be possible to change everything at once. You need to be patient and have faith that after some time the situation will improve and your loved one will change.