Workaholism: The “Respectable” Process Addiction

Overworking, or what some call “workaholism” is a complicated process addiction but one that is often viewed positively and even seen as a cornerstone of business success. As a woman in recovery from workaholism for over a decade, Dr. Dawn Nickel knows the topic well. When Dawn hit a physical and emotional bottom with anxiety and overworking in 2011, she was struck by how similar the experience was to the bottom she had hit with her substance use disorder two decades earlier. Her earlier recovery experiences informed how she approached her recovery from workaholism and combined, her two “recoveries” inspired her to spearhead an international women’s recovery movement that is based on the premise that “we are all recovering from something.

In this inspiring talk, Dawn will speak into the challenges that individuals who overwork face including unrealistic expectations of perfectionism that are both imposed and self-imposed, the difficulties related to working in organizations that focus on hyper-productivity, and the general lack of awareness about what workaholism is, and how choosing recovery in this area of our lives can support us to move from anxiety and overwhelm to wellness.