Workaholic: Causes and Symptoms of Work Addiction

Do you spend most of your time working? Do you usually take work home with you?, Do they call you frequently on the phone about work things outside of office hours? You continually complain that you lack time? Are your conversations almost always about the job?

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

What is a workaholic?

Wayne oates he proposed the term of workaholic to name the person with work dependency. For Oates, his own relationship with work was like that of alcoholics with drinking: a continuous and uncontrollable need to work that ends up affecting health, well-being and relationships with the environment.

Work addiction is defined as the excessive involvement of the person in her work activity, an irresistible urge to work constantly and the almost complete abandonment of leisure activities.

Common symptoms of work addiction

Workaholics urgently need to work, and when they don't, they experience anxiety, depression, or irritability. For a workaholic, work is the center of her life, leaving everything else, including family or friends, in the background.

They usually take pending work home, do not disconnect on the weekend and take their laptop with them on vacation to continue working.

Workaholic Profile

The most characteristic profile of the workaholic is:

• A special work attitude. He goes to great lengths to perform at his best and they always try to increase his achievements. He doesn't usually turn down new projects, clients, or job responsibilities.
• Excessive dedication of your time and effort. He usually works more than 45 hours a week, most days, usually taking work home with him.
• A compulsive and involuntary disorder to continue working. He works on weekends, when he is on vacation or even when he is ill, and if he cannot work he becomes nervous or irritable.
• General disinterest in any other activity that is not strictly work. His main topic of conversation is work, his leisure time is devoted to work, and if he is doing another 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), work addiction can lead to mental and physical disorder. Although it is observed in both genders, it affects mostly male professionals between 35 and 50 years old, in the liberal professions or middle managers: executives, doctors, journalists, lawyers, politicians, etc. These people focus their lives on work and are not usually aware of the problem, being their family or social environment the one that suffers the consequences.

The problems experienced by the workaholic person are similar to those of other addictions, their relationships inside and outside the work environment, which translates into family and social conflicts and even poor performance labor. In addition, conflicts tend to arise in the workplace itself, since they are usually perfectionist people that they demand a lot of themselves, and also of others.

The most common consequences are: anxiety, stress, insomnia or sleep disturbances, depression, problems in relationships with your partner or family, tendency to social isolation, inability to relax, tiredness, irritability, and health problems such as muscle tension, cardiovascular disorders, hypertension, gastric problems, ulcers, etc. In addition, abusive consumption of alcohol, stimulants and tobacco is often observed.

The cause is in the culture

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

Bibliographic references:

• Alonso-Fernández F. (2003) Work addiction. In The new addictions. Madrid: TEA editions, 225-261.
• Moreno, B., Gálvez, M., Garrosa, H. & Rodríguez, R. (2005). Addiction to work Behavioral Psychology, 13 (3), 417-428.
• Salanova, M., Del Líbano, M., Llorens, S., Schaufeli, W.B. & Fidalgo, M. (2008). Addiction to work National Institute of Safety and Hygiene at Work.