Over one in two Corriere della Sera followers cannot (or do not want to) imagine a life without work – Corriere.it

Who wouldn’t make false papers to have a living even without working? Rhetorical question, but only in appearance. Facing the question And what would you do if you no longer had to work?in fact, over a follower of the Corriere della Sera out of two he admitted that he was unable (or unwilling) to imagine an existence that did not include the pursuit of any profession. This is demonstrated by the results of a survey conducted on Instagram following the publication of this article by Alessandro Trocino on the documentary After Work: 34% of the total 8,487 respondents selected the option I would try to work anyway19% said they did have no ideawhile just 46% provided the seemingly obvious answer, stating that he would take the opportunity to relax and pursue his hobbies. Nonetheless, nothing to be surprised by, in the age of the widespread workaholism (English term that designates work addiction, fueled by mental mechanisms similar to alcohol addiction). According to a 2019 Forbes study – just think – it would even suffer from it 66% of millennials, 32% of whom also declared that they work even when they are in the bathroom. Subliminal Calvinist ethics, latent risk of burnout, inability to delineate the (often blurred) boundary between working to live and living to work. All topics also addressed in After Work.

The opinion of the expert

But if those who said they would work anyway had done so because they are part of that 15% of people in the world, as we learn from the documentary, genuinely happy to do it? This is only partially a convincing hypothesis, and not only in the light of the significant difference between this 15% and the 34% that emerged from the survey. There are undoubtedly passionate individuals who experience their profession as a pleasant activity, explains al Courier the psychiatrist and psychotherapist Tiziana Corteccioni. Choose the job you love and you will never work a day in your life, goes the famous Confucian adage. At the same time – continues the doctor – However, there are also those who use work as an escape from problems, for example family ones. In this sense, proving to be very efficient leads to being considered productive, to being positively validated by colleagues and superiors. Which increases self-esteem, fueling the vicious circle of workaholism. Perhaps even more critical, however, is the condition of the 1,588 users who answered I have no idea, as if the mere thought of not working anymore aroused in them the vertigo of a nihilistic anguish: Routine work allows you to plan your daily activities – comments Corteccioni -. His absence therefore leads to slowing down the pace, but in subjects who are addicted to it, such a perspective is perceived as a void. On the other hand, those who work all day don’t have the material time to create other interests.

Symptoms and remedies

Even in the doctor’s personal experience, the professionals most subject to the dynamics are those at the beginning or in the middle of their careers. Among the main ones symptoms – he reports – there are sleep disturbances, irritability, inability to “disconnect” the mind outside office hours. And, in the most serious and protracted cases, even panic attacks, social withdrawal and depression, in addition to the frequent occurrence of family conflicts precisely because of this obsessiveness. Remedies? First of all, contact a psychiatrist or a psychotherapist, who will be able to identify the origin of the discomfort – advises Corteccioni -. Strange as it may seem, in fact, generally i workaholic they don’t even realize they are. However, when they agree to reduce the hours they devote to work, they feel the difference, managing to overcome the problem. With this in mind counting on a fulfilling social life can make all the differenceeven preventively.