Workaholics more likely to suffer from psychiatric disorders: Study.

ISLAMABAD -- Being an overachiever may benefit one's in the grander scheme of things but in the work space it is found frequently to co-occur with psychiatric disorders, a study says.

According to researchers, workaholism can co-occur with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, anxiety and depression, Health news reported.

Examining the association between workaholism and psychiatric disorders among 16426 working adults, researcher and clinical psychologist Cecilie Schou Andreessen found that a significant number of workaholics scored higher on psychiatric symptoms than non-workaholics.

As many as 32.7% of workaholics met ADHD criteria, compared with 12.7% of non-workaholics; 25.6% met OCD criteria, compared with only 8.7% of non-workaholics; 33.8% of workaholics were more likely to suffer from anxiety compared with 11.9% of non-workaholics; and 8.9% of workaholics met the depression criteria compared with 2.6% of non-workaholics.

Earlier research by the Cent re for Biotechnology Information described workaholism as excessive and compulsive working, driven by internal and external forces.

Schou Andreessen said, 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.

Industrial psychologist Louis Linde said in South Africa working hard is as an excuse to run away from personal problems. Young people were more likely to be workaholics because they needed to prove themselves.