True workaholism is no different than any other -aholism in that it’s a means to self-medicate or evade/disguise deeper issues. To me, striking a balance is key. Work can be a deeply therapeutic exercise that keeps focused on some great goal rather than dwelling on our own problems.

Well, it’s not considered a mental health disorder…yet. I find my struggle for balance takes place in the long-term with balancing periods of feast with famine.

Interesting. Depending on how one reads this, every moderately-successful architect I know is a workaholic. Especially since we all identify strongly with our work and use it to define us to some extent. However, my longtime therapist friend told me that architects have the fifth-highest suicide rate among professionals in the US. Perhaps there’s a link?