A steadfast commitment to one’s career is often seen as a commendable trait—especially in the corporate world—and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Dedication to our jobs helps us achieve goals, find success, and foster a sense of financial security. Depending on the type of job you have, that hard work may even help others or make a difference in the world.
But sometimes that unwavering ambition spirals into a work addiction. Maybe your job constantly takes priority over your happiness, or perhaps you’re never able to find work-life balance. If you think you’re a “workaholic,” keep reading to learn how to spot warning signs of an unhealthy relationship to your job. Plus, learn how work addiction can be related to other mental health conditions and what treatment options are out there.
What is work addiction?
Work addiction, also referred to as workaholism, is an excessive and uncontrollable need to constantly be working. While the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) doesn’t formally recognize work addiction as a mental health condition, it’s still seen as a type of behavioral addiction. This type of addiction is marked by one’s inability to stop engaging in whatever activity they’re hooked on, whether that be working or other activities like exercising, shopping, or sex. These behaviors trigger the brain’s reward system, similar to the cycle of dependency present in substance use disorders.
Someone with a behavioral addiction will keep participating in these behaviors even when they face harmful repercussions for their actions. They may lose out on spending time with family and friends if they’re always on the clock, or they might struggle to get enough sleep if they’re working late every night.
Signs of a workaholic
While there is no official diagnostic criteria, there are certain symptoms commonly associated with work addiction.
- Staying at work for long hours, even when unnecessary
- Rumination, or constantly thinking about work duties
- An overwhelming fear of failure at work
- Paranoia about work-related performance
- Using work to cope with feelings of guilt or depression
- Reluctance to take breaks or time off
- Neglecting sleep to focus on work tasks
- Obsession with success metrics
- Abandoning personal relationships because of work
- Working to avoid dealing with personal issues
Risk factors for workaholism
There’s no single root cause for a work addiction—or with any behavioral addiction for that matter. Still, our jobs are major parts of our lives, and our relationship to work is influenced by various environmental and social factors. Some of these may put us at increased risk for developing a work addiction, including:
Bad work culture
If you’re in a job environment that doesn’t promote work-life balance and encourages you to regularly put in extra hours, you may be more at risk for becoming addicted to work. Pressure from higher-ups to meet unrealistic goals could also affect this. When you’re excessively worried about being penalized or disappointing your supervisor, you may overwork yourself.
Substance use disorders
If you’ve previously relied on substances to escape from the pressures of life, you’re at an increased risk for using your job as an escape too. You might also try to “replace” a substance use addiction with a work addiction because it seems more socially acceptable. While it may feel beneficial to lean on work instead of substances, it’s just a new addiction to fulfill the cravings that drugs or alcohol once filled. Addiction replacement is especially common during the early stages of sobriety in an effort to reduce unpleasant feelings caused by withdrawal.
Fears about job security
Work addiction could stem also from legitimate fears around your job security. “Maybe you’ve had a job in the past where you were fired and you don’t know why, so you want to try to be the perfect employee to make sure that something like that doesn’t happen again,” says Dr. Patrick McGrath, Chief Clinical Officer at NOCD.
Imposter syndrome
You doubt your skills at work which leads to feelings of being a fraud and that you’re not good enough for your job. You worry that your coworkers could find out that you’re not “worthy” for your role, so you put in a tremendous amount of effort in your performance.
Certain mental health disorders
A history of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and/or attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may play a role in developing a work addiction. Specific tendencies associated with OCD—like the need for control or to make sure things are “just right”—may predispose workers to become hyper-fixated with their work tasks.
When it comes to ADHD, a common symptom is getting easily distracted. Research has found that trouble focusing may cause people to overwork as compensation for inattention during the work day. Another marker of ADHD is impulsivity, which can make you say yes to everything, even when your workload is at capacity.
Perfectionism
Personality traits of perfectionism may lead someone to try and achieve a flawless job performance despite any possible negative consequences. A symptom of obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD) is an excessive devotion to work and productivity which is not caused by financial necessity.
Someone with OCPD may have difficulty completing their work on deadline because they’re being so rigorous about the quality. “Other times they might have trouble finishing because they believe they’re the only one who can actually do it,” Dr. McGrath explains. “No one else can do it well enough or help out, so they don’t allow anyone else to assist them because they believe they’re the only one who can.”
The effects of work addiction
When you’re addicted to working, it’s likely you’ll sacrifice your greater well-being to keep hitting success benchmarks. This can cause negative impacts to both your physical and mental health.
One of the most prominent effects of work addiction is burnout, where you find yourself in a constant state of fatigue after job stress wears you out. Ironically, work addiction might cause decreased productivity because your energy is so depleted—especially if your habits are causing you to not get adequate sleep.
On an interpersonal level, work addiction can also impact relationships. If you’re spending all your time at the office, your family might feel neglected. If you have a partner, they may feel like all the household responsibilities are piling up on their shoulders while you’re focused on your own work. Workaholism could cause you to think of socializing as a distraction from your career. You might take a pause on dating or even stop hanging out with your friends to spend more time on work projects.
Is an “obsession” with work a sign of OCD?
If you’re addicted to work, you may feel like you’re “obsessed” with your job. But when we’re talking about obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), obsessions refer to a specific type of diagnostic symptom.
If you’re unfamiliar with OCD, it’s a chronic mental health condition marked by obsessions and compulsions. Obsessions are intrusive, persistent, and unwanted thoughts, sensations, images, and urges, and compulsions are repetitive behaviors done to try and alleviate the distress caused by obsessions, or to prevent a feared thing from happening.
When teasing apart a work addiction from an OCD job-related obsession, it’s important to know what’s driving the uncontrollable urge to work. If someone’s working more and more because they get a “high” off their career success, their behaviors aren’t being caused by OCD. Compulsions in OCD don’t bring on any sense of pleasure or accomplishment, they only provide a temporary sense of relief from anxiety and fear.
How work-related obsessions may show up in OCD:
Let’s say someone works at a store and their duties include balancing the cash drawer at the end of the night. If they have responsibility OCD, an OCD subtype marked by an exaggerated sense of responsibility for preventing negative outcomes, they may feel an overwhelming amount of pressure to perform their job duties correctly.
There’s people who have been stuck at the store until two in the morning counting out the cash register to make sure that it’s exactly perfect, that every penny’s accounted for
Dr. Patrick McGrath
Even though they check over their work repeatedly, OCD puts doubt into their mind that something’s wrong. They may be inundated with thoughts like “What if I miss something?” and “What if it isn’t right?”
This is also related to “just right” OCD, where people obsess about things feeling “just right.” Their fears may lead to rumination about potential consequences if they were to mess up. For example, they may excessively worry that they’ll make an accounting error that screws up the entire computer system. That might spiral into thoughts about getting into trouble with supervisors: “They think, ‘They’re going to come after me because maybe they think I stole something or I did something inappropriate,’” Dr. McGrath says.
Without proper treatment, obsessions and compulsions can seriously interfere with one’s ability to function at work.
Is treatment needed for work addiction?
Since there’s no official diagnostic criteria for work addiction, it can be tricky to determine the severity of the addiction and when treatment is needed. For some people, establishing a healthy work-life balance may be all that’s needed. That may look like:
- Making time for breaks, vacations, and sick days
- Set boundaries around how much time you spend at work, which may mean being stricter about your work hours
- Not checking email, Slack, and other work communications when you’re off the clock
- Being flexible with your schedule and deadlines if possible
If you feel like you can’t handle your work addiction on your own, reach out to a mental health professional. They can help you determine if your preoccupation with work is actually a behavioral addiction or something else. Behavioral addictions are usually treated with a combination of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), where you’ll examine how your thinking patterns influence your relationship to work, as well as motivational interviewing, where a counselor will motivate you to make positive changes to better balance your life.
In cases of OCD, a work-related obsession is best treated with exposure response and prevention (ERP) therapy. In ERP, a specially trained therapist helps you create a hierarchy of your fears. They’ll then design related exposures—exercises to incrementally face your triggers—and you’ll gradually work your way through them. That might look like resisting checking your email for 30 minutes. Then you increase it up to an hour. After a few sessions, maybe you try going a whole weekend without logging into your email.
As you practice being exposed to your fears, you learn to sit the anxiety and distress that comes with OCD. With time, you’ll be better equipped to clock in and out of your job without being barreled down by obsessions and compulsions.
Bottom line
It may feel like your life has to revolve around your career, but finding balance is critical to your well-being. If the urge to work when you’re off the clock has become uncontrollable, it’s time to reach out for help. With some support, you’ll be able to get to a place where your job is just one part of your routine, making room for you to live your life outside of the office.
