What is workaholism and how it manifests itself. The main causes, its consequences, classification and methods of treatment.
Stages and mechanism of development of workaholism
Like most addictions, workaholism develops gradually. The process of its development can be conditionally divided into 3 stages:
- Stage I (initial) … It is characterized by periodic production costs (increased concentration of energy and attention, delays at work, taking work home, etc.
- Stage II (visible) … Effort at work is gradually moving from periodic to frequent and goes to the detriment of personal life. The beginnings of perfectionism and feelings of guilt appear for the insufficient (according to the workaholic himself) quality of the work performed. Because of which, the volume of work taken on by themselves grows, chronic fatigue and irritability appear, and sleep is disturbed. The need to work even on weekends at home becomes more acute.
- III stage (explicit) … Demanding to oneself and obsession with work lead a workaholic to physical and mental exhaustion. He is simply unable to work effectively due to the inability to concentrate and chronic fatigue. Often at this stage, dependence on work leads to mental abnormalities, a sharp loss in weight, and the appearance of serious somatic diseases.
Varieties of workaholics
According to the manifestations of addiction, one can divide into types and the workaholics themselves. We present their detailed characteristics:
- Workaholic for yourself … Such a lover of work simply loves work and does not look for excuses for this.
- Workaholic for others … The explanation of his constant employment at work for such a person is the benefit of others (assistance to a common cause, earnings for the family, personnel situation, etc.).
- Successful workaholic … For such an employee, all the efforts spent on work are paid off by a real result (career growth, material incentives).
- Loser workaholic … Here the potential is wasted (on unclaimed, unnecessary, wasted work) or on trifles, without achieving a common goal.
- Hidden workaholic … In this case, the person realizes that his love for work has gone beyond boundaries. Therefore, he carefully hides this enthusiasm from others, talking about his indifference or even hatred towards her.
The consequences of workaholism for humans
The notion of measure is also acceptable in relation to work. Excessive activity can lead to quite serious consequences. At the same time, the consequences of workaholism can affect a wide variety of areas of life:
- Professional activity … It would seem that the meaning of a workaholic's work is to become the best, most needed, and irreplaceable. However, excessive work overloads ultimately lead not to climbing the career ladder, but to descending it. And this is at best, and at worst - generally to dismissal. The reason is simple - a tired, driven employee is not able to work for the result. The emerging exhaustion and difficulty of concentration do not allow him to perform even the most elementary tasks, that is, "professional burnout" sets in.
- Health … Constant stress and anxiety about work affects primarily the mental health of a workaholic. This manifests itself in the form of depression, anxiety, neuroses, insomnia. They often suffer from a sense of unfulfillment, because each day is similar to the previous one, and their whole life is work. As a result, one addiction can be joined by another, no less harmful. Reacts to excessive loads and the body: the spine - to long-term sitting in an office chair, eyes - to hourly "gazing" at the monitor, stomach and liver, heart and blood vessels - to stress and malnutrition. There is a constant feeling of fatigue, immunity is weakened, aging processes are accelerated.
- Personal life … It is very difficult for a workaholic bachelor to start a family, because he simply does not have time for this. And it is not often possible to meet a partner who will feel comfortable next to a person who is fixated only on work. It is no less difficult for a workaholic who already has a family. Work dependence invariably affects the relationship of both the spouses themselves and the upbringing of children. According to the observation of psychologists, it is especially difficult for children in single-parent families, where the only parent is "sick" with workaholism. Attempts by the mother or father to compensate for the lack of attention with material things often lead to various types of protest in the child, including in the form of defiant behavior or bad habits. A lack of attention harms not only children, but also the second half of a workaholic, which is fraught with constant conflicts in the family or even divorce.
- Personality … Constant passion only for work significantly affects the development of the personality of a workaholic. He simply has no time, and it is not interesting to develop in many ways. Therefore, he automatically becomes uninteresting for communication, since he can maintain a conversation only on one topic - his work. A big blow to the personality of a workaholic is "dropping out" of the work process (retirement, dismissal, liquidation of a department or enterprise, etc.). The resulting feeling of uselessness and not knowing what to do next can lead such a person to a hospital bed.
The fact that you are clearly overworking does not mean that you are a diligent worker, and it will help in moving up the career ladder. It is not the number of hours spent at work that matters, but their effectiveness. There is even an opinion that after work there are those who did not have time to do everything on time.
Features of the treatment of workaholism
Since overworking is a psychological addiction, treatment for workaholism is based on the principles of treating any addiction. That is, without the workaholic realizing that he has an addiction, any methods of dealing with it will be ineffective.
Next, you need to determine what triggered the flight to work. The ideal option is to seek professional help, that is, to a psychologist. He will find out the degree of addiction, find its cause and the best treatment option.
There are cases when a person himself realizes his dependence on work and radically changes the situation: he takes a vacation and leaves for rest, leaves for another place, or simply quits without further employment. Most often this happens already at the stage of "professional burnout", when there are problems not only at work, but also with health or in the family.
A significant role in how to treat workaholism is also assigned to the people around the workaholic. The main thing is to try to explain to him that this is dangerous for himself, and try to understand why he is so eager to work. And if the reason lies at home, in the family - to direct all efforts to create a favorable environment that would motivate the workaholic to return home on time and not think about work. It will be useful to gently, unobtrusively introduce him to the "non-working" spheres of life - rest, entertainment, travel, family joys.
What is workaholism - watch the video:
Today there is no simple and quick way to get rid of workaholism. This is a long process, requiring the consent of the workaholic himself, love and participation of his loved ones, and most importantly - the help of a psychologist. But given the possible consequences of such dependence, it is definitely necessary to fight it.
