Symptoms of Workaholism

I have come to realize that in this difficult world of interning and PA-ing, a highly competitive industry, that it is easy to begin overworking. I currently find myself sitting on a PATH train bound for Hoboken at 8:10pm on a Friday night after 10+ hours at the office with the prospect of a few more work-related emails and phone calls tonight, a few hours of work tomorrow and plans to show up early at the office Monday for a shoot.

I have also made no social plans for the entire weekend. True that's mostly due to my need to rest and kick this nasty cold of mine but I cannot help but notice the total lack of balance and continuity that such a statement brings about. If I'm so sick and tired why did I volunteer to assist one of the producers with their rough cut script? Couldn't that time be better spent carousing?

There are very apparent warnings signs of alcoholism as described by many medical professionals. However, I find that there is a lack of research done in respect to another American plague: workaholism.

Clearly if you can be a "workaholic" then you can suffer from "workaholism".

I have taken it upon myself to aide in the diagnosis of these undetected cases of "all work and no play".

In order to demonstrate the realities of this epidemic I have taken an excerpt about signs and symptoms of alcoholism and reversed certain key words\. For example, every time the word 'drink' or 'drinking' appears I have replaced it with 'work' or 'working'. Likewise, for a sentence like "person is shirking their responsibilities in order to drink" I would change it to "person is shirking their drinking in order to work". Because a true workaholic frequently blows off their friends and social events in order to work.

So here it is.....

Signs and Symptoms of Workaholism

There are many signs and symptoms related to working problems. Workaholism is considered a progressive disease, meaning that the symptoms and effects of working become increasingly more severe over time.

Those who over-work may begin to show early signs of a problem, then progress to showing symptoms of work abuse; if working continues, they may later show symptoms of workaholism or work dependence.

Early Signs of a Problem

Early signs of workaholism include frequent overtime, an established pattern of heavy working and working in dangerous situations, such as when driving [One word. Bluetooth.]. Other early signs of workaholism include black-out working ["Oh, wow I didn't mean to miss - insert landmark event (Example: birth of my first-born child)- I lost track of time!"] or a drastic change in demeanor while working, such as consistently becoming angry or violent.

Symptoms of Work Abuse

The main symptom of work abuse occurs when someone continues to work after their working reaches a level that causes recurrent problems [Too much time at the office and not at the gym? Anti-social?] . Continuing to work after it causes someone to miss fun, drive-work, shirk drinking or get in trouble with the law [Embezzlement anyone?] is considered work abuse.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, IV, defines work abuse as working despite work-related physical, social, psychological, or occupational problems, or working in dangerous situations, such as while driving. The World Health Organization's International Classification of Diseases refers to "harmful use" of work, or working that causes either physical or mental damage in the absence of work dependence. In other words, work abuse is any harmful use of work.

Symptoms of Workaholism

For someone who is a workaholic or work dependent, the symptoms include all of those associated with work abuse (above). But workaholics also continue to work in spite of all the problems it has caused in their lives [Divorced? Loner? Diet of takeout and delivery? Wealthy but no time to use money? A year worth of vacation days banked up?].

When work abuse reaches the work dependence stage, the person also experiences at least three of seven other symptoms, including neglect of other activities, excessive use of work, impaired control of work consumption, persistence of work use, large amounts of time spent in work-related activities, withdrawal symptoms and increased tolerance of work.

Yikes. No thanks.

So if you have positively diagnosed yourself as a workaholic suffering from workaholism here's your treatment.
1. Turn off your laptop/blackberry/smart phone/work cell/pager/PDA (however the office contacts you)
2. Find a friend  - provided you haven't completely cut yourself off from all of them (maybe you should call them before you turn off your phone)
3. Have friend (replace 'friend' with 'local bartender' if necessary) remind you how to have fun. *
4. Do yourself a favor and don't switch from one addiction for another.

*if you or your friend are at a loss, try alcohol. Other "holics" swear by it.