Workaholics Win Respect, but They May Be Dangerous

The hard-driving workaholic is usually tolerated, even admired, in American society, but a frenzied devotion to the job is actually a compulsive and sometimes dangerous psychiatric disorder.

“Our society tolerates workaholism because workaholics tend to be successful even though they are not personally successful,” said Dr. Sid Wolf, a psychologist specializing in the treatment of alcohol and drug addiction.

The workaholic differs from a hard worker in that he or she is driven by internal conflicts and deals with fears by plunging into paper work much the way an alcoholic escapes from the world by plunging into a bottle.

“When you are a workaholic, you are running--literally running,” Wolf said.

Unresolved Conflicts

“What are you running from? You are running from anxiety; you are running from depression; you are running from anger; you are running from unresolved conflicts,” he said.

Wolf said that the workaholic uses work to take his or her mind off unresolved personal problems.

The condition often crops up in recovering alcoholics, who still desire the escape that liquor once provided.

The problems generally pertain to basic fears of loneliness or death or to the unanswerable question of the meaning of life.

The results, however, can show up as health and domestic problems.

“Diverting your attention and concentrating on one thing at a time gives you a chance to break free from all the internal garbage that goes on,” Wolf said. “In moderation, work is a positive device,” Wolf said. “However, when it becomes an addiction, it can take over just the way alcoholism takes over.”

Time for reflection and contemplation, Wolf said, is essential for people to set their lives in order and grow. Working furiously for long hours prevents such self-exploration.

“I really am for people striving for excellence; people being everything they can be,” he said. “But when that becomes a frenzied desire for perfection, we have literally the seeds for deep depression.”

The two hemispheres of the brain can influence the personality of a person and produce two types of workaholics, Wolf said.

People dominated by the left side of the brain tend to be logical and structured. Many more men are dominated by the left side of the brain than women.

Although many times their toil will pay off financially, such workaholics are never satisfied, Wolf said. Their first million dollars only makes them hungry for their second million dollars.

Insecurities Avoided

Usually greed is less a factor than fear. Again, insecurities are avoided by immersion in work.

“If you are striving and successful, you can get ahead of what’s biting you, which are these unresolved conflicts,” Wolf said.

The other kind of workaholic is the person, often a woman, who is dominated by the creative right side of the brain.

“Their exhaustion stems from a desire to serve, a desire to be a help and a tremendous anxiety about disapproval, about rejection,” said Wolf. “Saying no is very scary and very difficult.

“What they tend to do is over-schedule,” he said. “Right hemisphere-dominated people have very unrealistic ideas about their capacity. So they take on far more than they can handle. They are chronically late because not only are they disorganized, but they think that they are super human.”

The aim is to stay busy and keep the inner demons away. Vacations can be traumatic, but a crisis in the workplace is something that is welcomed.

“Maintaining a continuing crisis is wonderful because, once again, it is not necessary to deal with the internal unresolved garbage that we are carrying around,” Wolf said.

The workaholic is helped in much the same way that alcoholics, drug addicts, compulsive eaters and gamblers are helped. The workaholic must be convinced that he has a problem and that the solution lies within.