Intense competition and pressure at work can easily turn you into a workaholic. If you already happen to be one, listen up, as you could be at a heightened risk of psychiatric disorders.

According to a study conducted by researchers from the University of Bergen in Norway, which involved 16,426 working adults from various social backgrounds, there are significant differences between workaholics and people who are more relaxed about work.

These differences, in particular, pertain to Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), anxiety attacks and depression. The study finds that 32.7 percent of workaholics meet the ADHD criteria (which is 10 percentage points more than among non-workaholics), 25.6 percent meet the OCD criteria (16.9 percentage points more), 33.8 percent met the anxiety criteria (21.9 percentage points more) and 8.9 percent meet the depression criteria (6.3 percentage points more).

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“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, remains uncertain," said Schou Andreassen, the university's researcher and clinical psychologist specialist at the Department of Psychosocial Science, as reported by kompas.com.

In the research, seven criteria were used to point out ‘addictive’ and ‘non-addictive’ behavior among participants, which are: “You think of how you can free up more time to work”, “You spend much more time working than initially intended”, “You work in order to reduce feelings of guilt, anxiety, helplessness or depression”, “You have been told by others to cut down work without listening to them”, “You become stressed if you are prohibited from working’, “You deprioritize hobbies, leisure activities and/or exercise because of your work”, and “You work so much that it negatively influenced your health”.

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Using their own experience during the past year, participants were asked to rate how much they relate to each critereon, from 1 (never) to 5 (always). Researchers stated that scoring 4 (often) or 5 on four or more criteria signified workaholism.

The Bergen Work Addiction Scale defined workaholism or addiction in work as having the same symptoms with other addictions, which include salience, mood modification, conflict, tolerance, withdrawal, relapse and problems. (mar/kes)

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