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Workaholism

Essay by   •  November 29, 2010  •  1,816 Words (8 Pages)  •  1,875 Views

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Everyone has an ambition to succeed in life. People are different in the ways that they take to achieve success, but it has been a fact that working is one of the obligatory and agreed ways of achieving aims. In other words, although people can go through many ways to attain goals, working with its various meanings is the compulsory way which all people follow. When people realize the importance of work, some of them become addicted to it. As assenting in Dictionary.com that the addiction to work, in which the worker has a compulsively need to spend very long hours in his/her job, is known as workaholism. With the increasing numbers of workaholics, people become more serious and worried about the results of workaholism. Generally, workaholism can affect people, societies, and economies. Actually, the effects of workaholism can be divided into three categories; they are social, health, and economic influences.

There are many social influences which can be caused by workaholism. In particular, workaholics can have a lot of problems in communicating with the people who are surrounding them. In fact, workaholics' families are the first victims who are facing troubles. According to "Journal of Addictions & Offender Counseling", a study on the relationship between workaholism and psychological problems showed that, workaholics can get higher amount of nervousness, despair, and irritation than normal people who are not addicted to work (Robinson, 2000, p.34). That means, because of the workaholics' circumstances, their ability to gain depression and nervousness increase, and they become angry faster than normal people. So that can cause troubles for workaholics' families who are in touch with them more often than others. Also in the same article Robinson stated that, "The structure of the workaholic family system is such that spouses and children become extensions of the workaholic's ego, inevitably leading to family conflict. Spouses and children report feeling lonely, unloved, isolated, and emotionally and physically abandoned" (2000, p.34). This statement shows us that, workaholism affects families emotionally because workaholics are spending a lot of time outside their houses and away from their families. And workaholism can also influence families physically because of the depression and anger that workaholics have which can make them try to vent their emotions and anger on their families. However, family members of workaholics are not the only ones who suffer.

Workaholism also affects the relationships between workaholics and their friends whether in the job or in other places. Socially, people meet with their friends and spend time strengthening the relationships and having fun also. As it asserted in the article " Health Monitor" by Maclean's, "Burdened by a growing workload, half of the men and women aged 25 to 44 felt squeezed for time to spend with family or friends" (1999, p.96). It might be seen how it is hard for workaholics to find enough time to spend with their friends, and how half of the society is having difficulties with their relationships. Anna Kemeny discussed in her article " Canadian Social Trends" that, workaholics are emotionally ruined, and they have been hurting because of stress and relationship problems which resulted from the unequal time and emotional energy that they put between their relationships and their jobs (2002, p.2). This statement demonstrates that, workaholics spend a large amount of time and emotions in their jobs, therefore, they can not properly continue in a lot of their relationships. Consequently, workaholism can cause serious social problems which can lead the society to be disconnected, however, workaholism can affect not only the society; it has also influences on a person life.

Workaholism has influences on the health of workaholics. In fact, workaholism can lead to serious health problems if the person did not pay enough attention to himself or herself. As it is declared in the article "Journal of Counseling & Development", "Booth-Kewley, S. and Friedman, H. S. noted a definite connection between workaholism, Type A behavior, and coronary heart disease" (qtd. Seybold & Salomone 1994, p.4). This study shows that, workaholics can be hurt badly with heart diseases because of the addiction. Likewise, a person who has type A behavior ,which is a competitive personality where the person finds it hard to share tasks with other colleagues, is likely to have heart problems as well. In the article "Journal of Counseling & Development", a study discussed by Oates, W. claimed that "workaholics may actually develop physical illness as a way to express their dependency; illness is perhaps the only accepted means to receive unquestioned care by others" (Seybold & Salomone 1994, p.4). This claim demonstrates that when workaholics miss emotions and kindness from other, their minds make an idea to obtain care from others by getting sick and having a physical diseases. In the same way, workaholics might be infected with any physical illness for the reason that their bodies permit it to take place as a way to utter their emotions. It seems to be a real problem which needs to be considered carefully especially because many people are workaholics but they do not know. In addition, workaholism can affect the health mentally.

Workaholics can also have beside mental health problems. In general, workaholism can negatively affect workers' minds and emotions. Robinson argued in his article "Journal of Addictions & Offender Counseling" that, workaholism can affect the physical and chemical substances in the brain which can cause anxiety, depression, and also suicidal ideation (2000, p.34). That argument shows us how serious problems can be caused by workaholism which can lead sometimes to death. Due to the effect of workaholism on the amount of physical and chemical substances which are in the brain, mental problems can occur and damage the brain cells. Seybold and Salomone discussed in their article "Journal of Counseling & Development" that, "Many writers have commented on the negative effects of workaholism on workaholics themselves and have noted that the workaholic lifestyle, characterized by anxiety and stress, can lead to physical illness in the individual" (1994, p.4). This discussion gives us an idea about the influence on workaholic character and behavior because of the addiction which results nervousness and stress, and how it can affect badly the mind as many authors stated. Furthermore, the mental health troubles which caused by workaholism can also cause physical problems to workaholics. Really, workaholism can damage a person health whether physical health or mental health which can drive him or her

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