Why Stress and Work Burnout Can Lead To Addiction

You do not have to be in a specific profession to suffer from high stress levels or work burnout. If stress is not managed, anyone can become overwhelmed from their job and suffer from stress, depression, and burnout.

These feelings can cause many people to seek relief from these feelings in ways that may not be in their own best interest. Instead of finding ways to overcome the stress, they seek relief from a substance that makes them feel as if everything is okay.

Soon, if the stress and burnout are not managed, this self-medication becomes an addiction. The addiction can then lead to additional issues at work, causing even more stress. It is an awful situation that often requires intervention by a loved one or friends to make the situation end.

Signs Of Work Burnout

Resentment

A person experiencing work burnout often becomes very resentful of their job, the people they work with, and even towards family members for “making” them go to work. Work stress often causes the person to withdraw into themselves while at work so that they do not have any confrontations with other employees or management.

Poor Work Performance

Performance at work drops to inferior levels. This usually adds to the problem because co-workers and management may begin to act upon the poor performance. It is a bad situation all around. A person may even begin to miss a lot of work because they just don’t want to be there.

Physical and Mental Issues

Burnout can lead to a person feeling emotionally drained, overwhelmed, and dysfunctional on many levels. The stress can even manifest into pain, flu-like symptoms, or general malaise. These physical symptoms are often what triggers the onset of substance use so that the person can “feel better.”

On Top Of Work Burn-Out, Now There Is An Addiction In The Mix

It is not uncommon for a person suffering from high levels of stress and works burnout to find themselves also facing an addiction. Substance abuse is prevalent in these situations. Thankfully, there is help available to treat the addiction as well as the cause of the stress.

When you enter an addiction recovery center, you have the ability to regain control of your life. While at the rehabilitation center, you will address the physical addiction you have as well as the factors that have led to that addiction.

Many people are surprised when they enter rehab to discover that they are suffering from anxiety, depression, or just high levels of stress, and that is the leading cause of their addiction. Working with a substance abuse counselor, you will learn how to overcome these problems and regain control of your life.

Rehab does help you break the physical addiction to a substance, but it is also a place to break the emotional and mental addiction. It is a place to help manage stress and overcome the problems in your life so that you do not need to rely on any substance to get relief.

The rehabilitation process embraces all areas of your life so that you can feel good, function well, and do it while you remain sober.

Sometimes It Is Just A Learning Process

It is a misconception that addiction is the result of something bad. Some people say that it is a personality flaw; others say that it is a result of bad decisions. The truth is, addiction is a very personal issue that is often the result of choices being made based on personal circumstances.

Many people discover in rehab that they can learn how to do things differently so that the need for any substance to feel better is not needed. They can learn how to cope with stress, overcome difficulties at work, learn how to sort out personal relationships, and even discover better ways to make choices in their lives. It is all a learning process.

Once you have entered into recovery, you will see just how much learning these new ways of coping with life’s issues impacts your life. You will be happy with yourself for being in recovery while also celebrating the way you manage your life now. The sky is now the limit.