Workaholicism or wage slavery?

 Workaholics Anonymous was founded  in 1983 and holds meetings around the world—Paris, Sydney, London, Reykjavík, Bangkok.

"People don’t take this seriously—they either laugh at workaholics or dismiss them," says psychotherapist and  Chained to the Desk  author Bryan Robinson, who is widely recognized as being one of the world’s leading experts on workaholism. “The work ethic is an ingrained idea in our society. What’s wrong with working hard? Hard work got us to the Moon!” He goes on to call this attitude “the glorification of an illness.”

In March, meanwhile, Psychology Today cited recent research that outlines four basic types of work addict, namely (to paraphrase): The manic perfectionist, the stress junkie, the muddled multi-tasker, and the guy who never seems able to let a project go.

In April, Norwegian and British researchers developed what they call "The Bergen Work Addiction Scale," a standardized list of criteria ("You spend much more time working than originally intended") aimed at helping people identify if they have an actual addiction rather than a tendency to work too much.

The aim is to make people aware that they have an identifiable condition, and therefore make it more likely that they will seek help. 

“The workaholic operates on the fight-or-flight response, which leads to a drench of cortisol, norepinephrine, and adrenaline. It can lead to heart disease and heart attacks, diabetes, compromised immune systems, and gastro-intestinal problems. We know this, the studies are pouring out.” explains Bryan Robinson.

Researchers in New Zealand have found that people who work at least 50 hours a week are up to three times more likely to face alcohol problems.  The American Journal of Epidemiology reported on a global study showing that over-workers are between 40 and 80 percent more likely to suffer heart disease than others.  Middle-aged people working more than 55 hours a week tend to be disproportionately slow-witted, and to be more at risk for dementia.

The Japanese have "Karoshi," or death by work. Yet, according to figures from the International Labour Office, American workers put in more hours per year than their Japanese counterparts (1,792 hours compared to 1,771). A recent Expedia poll found that fewer than 40 percent of Americans use up their annual vacation time. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development reports that Americans are putting in 20 percent more hours than they were in 1970. Increasingly, 60-hour work weeks are becoming the norm.

Work addiction is a global problem. Researchers in Spain predicted that the percentage of work addicts in that country’s work force would rise from the current 4.6 percent to 11.8 percent in 2015. Workaholism is the rise and the  role the global economic downturn has been implicated in this. People are working longer hours to make additional income, and to make themselves indispensable enough that they skip the next round of redundancies