The Hidden Link Between Workaholism and Mental Health Long hours on the job can temporarily ease the symptoms of depression and anxiety. But you’re better off leaving the office and facing your feelings head-on.

The Atlantic ^ | February 2, 2023 | Arthur C. Brooks

[DoodleBob]

...There is compelling evidence that some people treat their emotional problems with work as well. This can lead to its own kind of addiction. Many studies have shown a strong association between workaholism and the symptoms of psychiatric disorders, such as anxiety and depression, and it has been common to assume that compulsive work leads to these maladies. But some psychologists have recently argued reverse causation—that people may treat their depression and anxiety with workaholic behavior. As the authors of one widely reported 2016 study in the scientific journal PLOS One wrote, “Workaholism (in some instances) develops as an attempt to reduce uncomfortable feelings of anxiety and depression.”

The 2016 study received significant attention for its quality, and will no doubt stimulate more tests of this hypothesis in the coming years. If the findings hold, which I suspect they will, the causal relationship could partially explain why so many people increased their work hours during the pandemic. For many months during the initial shutdowns, people faced boredom, loneliness, and anxiety; by late May 2020, CDC data showed that nearly a quarter of American adults had reported symptoms of depression. (In 2019, that figure was 6.5 percent.) Perhaps a portion of workers self-treated by doubling down on their jobs in order to feel busy and productive.

...

What’s more, when it comes to work, people reward you for addictive behavior. No one says, “Wow, an entire bottle of gin in one night? You are an outstanding drinker.” But work 16 hours a day, and you’ll probably get a promotion.

Despite the extolled virtues of maximum work, the costs will almost certainly outrun the benefits, as they usually do in self-medicating addictions. The burnout, depression, job stress, and work-life conflict will get worse, not better.

[Albion Wilde]

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