THIS IS WHY YOU SHOULD WORRY - IF YOU ARE A WORKAHOLIC

It’s very easy for workaholics to ‘blend in’ to society, especially in the workplace - after all, you’re rarely punished for working too hard.

But a large Norwegian study has shown that workaholics frequently also suffer from psychiatric symptoms - including ADHD, OCD, anxiety, and depression.

In fact, many seemingly ‘successful’ people may actually be mentally ill.

Researchers at the University of Bergen in Norway examined the associations between workaholism and psychiatric disorders among 16,426 working adults.

Workaholics scored higher on all psychiatric symptoms - with 32.7% meeting ADHD criteria, 33.8% meeting anxiety criteria and 25.6% meeting OCD criteria.

The researchers believe that pushing work ‘to the extreme’ may be a sign of deeper issues.
‘Workaholics scored higher on all the psychiatric symptoms than non-workaholics,’ said the University of Bergen’s Cecilie Schou Andreassen.

‘Thus, taking work to the extreme may be a sign of deeper psychological or emotional issues. Whether this reflects overlapping genetic vulnerabilities, disorders leading to workaholism or, conversely, workaholism causing such disorders, remain uncertain.

‘Physicians should not take for granted that a seemingly successful workaholic does not have ADHD-related or other clinical features. Their considerations affect both the identification and treatment of these disorders.’ 

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