Hooked on anxiety?

Catherine Walker

Experts say more women are highly stressed and hooked on the feeling.

Experts say many women are ‘stress’ junkies and that they learn to please and multi-task at a young age according to The 33 News.

The job can be the habit and hormones like adrenaline and cortisol provide the fix. Psychologist Susan Fletcher said that she sees a lot of women who can’t seem to put down their high-wire lifestyle.

‘There are people I believe that are addicted to the stress.’ Fletcher said ‘They gain energy from stress, at least initially and they can go that way for a period of months, some people are able to operate that way for a year or so.’

But Fletcher says it’s an unhealthy lifestyle rife with sleep issues, irritability and gastro-intestinal problems. She goes to say that people in the workplace are intolerant of colleagues who have a healthy attitude to work and who leave on time suggesting that ‘on time’ is ‘early’.

Today’s economic climate means that fewer people are doing more work and this can feed the addiction. Even when we finish work we find it hard to switch off. The use of mobile phones keeps us available round the clock. Going out to dinner is often seen as a networking opportunity rather than the chance to relax and get away from work.

Another out of work activity which is popular with working women is working out at the gym. Whilst this is really good for the body and mind, competitive, high-powered women use this time to build up even more aggression and stress by over-pushing themselves.

For working women with families it can be even harder. Once they get away from the work place they then have to change from one role into another and use their evenings to keep house and nurture, feed and spend ‘quality time’ with their children.

Although this type of lifestyle is sustainable for periods it cannot be maintained over long periods of time or else the consequences can be catastrophic. Many women can experience unacceptable levels of stress and anxiety which can impact on their ability to work at all.

What is concerning to us at Uncovered however is the use of the word anxiety - there is of course a huge difference between the feelings of normal stress and suffering an anxiety disorder. Please see our anxiety guide below for more useful information on this.

You may want to ask yourself the question is do you work to live or live to work? See here for our guide to The work/life balance.