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Psychiatric symptoms more common among workaholics

Symptoms of psychiatric disorders were more common among individuals who met criteria for workaholism than those who did not, according to recent findings.

“Workaholism has been defined as ‘being overly concerned about work, driven by an uncontrollable work motivation, and to investing so much time and effort to work that it impairs other important life areas.’ Research into this timely topic has heavily expanded over the past few decades, and concerns have been raised regarding the downsides of workaholism,” Cecilie Schou Andreassen, PhD, of the University of Bergen, Norway, and colleagues wrote. “In order to prevent workaholism developing, there is a need to identify factors involved with this compulsive work pattern — especially since modern technology (ie, laptops, tablets, smartphones) has blurred the natural lines between home and the workplace.”

Cecilie Schou Andreassen

Researchers conducted an open web-based cross-sectional survey to assess psychiatric symptoms and workaholism among 16,426 workers. Study participants had a mean age of 37.3 years. Psychiatric disorder symptoms were assessed via the Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale, the Obsession-Compulsive Inventory-Revised and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale.

Workaholism was determined via the Bergen Work Addiction Scale, which had participants rate experiences within the last year from 1 (never) to 5 (always). Experiences included:

• You think of how you can free up more time to work;
• You spend much more time working than initially intended;
• You work in order to reduce feelings of guilt, anxiety, helplessness or depression;
• You have been told by others to cut down on work without listening to them;
• You become stressed if you are prohibited from working;
• You deprioritize hobbies, leisure activities, and/or exercise because of your work; and
• You work so much that it has negatively influenced your health.

Scoring 4 (often) or 5 (always) on at least four criteria indicated workaholism.

Overall, 7.8% of the cohort were identified as workaholics.

Of these, 32.7% met criteria for ADHD vs. 12.7% of non-workaholics; 25.6% met criteria for OCD vs. 8.7% of non-workaholics; 33.8% met criteria for anxiety vs. 11.9% of non-workaholics; and 8.9% met criteria for depression vs. 2.6% of non-workaholics.

“According to recommended cut-offs, 7.8% of the present sample was classified as workaholics. Following this, it became evident that individuals that were younger, female, not in a relationship, managers, self-employed, and met clinical cut-offs for ADHD, OCD, anxiety, and depression, were more often categorized as workaholics than their comparison groups,” the researchers wrote. “Workers with some of these characteristics could thus be targets for interventions with the aim of preventing the development and maintenance of workaholism. More research preferably using representative and clinical samples, on this poorly studied relationship between workaholism and psychiatric disorder symptoms is clearly needed.” – by Amanda Oldt

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.