What do you think?
Rate this book
Chained to the Desk: A Guidebook for Workaholics, Their Partners and Children, and the Clinicians Who Treat Them
As seen on 20/20, The Early Show, and ABC World News Tonight
Americans love a hard worker. The man or woman who works eighteen-hour days and eats his or her meals on the run between appointments is usually viewed with a combination of respect and awe. But for many, this lifestyle leads to family problems, a decline in work productivity, and ultimately to physical and mental collapse.
Chained to the Desk, best-selling author and widely respected family therapist Bryan E. Robinson's groundbreaking book, originally published in 1998, was the first comprehensive portrait of the workaholic. Thousands benefited from this innovative book, which profiles the myths behind this greatly misunderstood disorder and the inner psychological battle that work addicts wage against themselves. Intended for anyone touched by what Robinson calls "the best-dressed problem of the twenty-first century," the author also provides an inside look into the impact on those who live and work with them --partners, spouses, children, and colleagues--as well as the appropriate techniques for clinicians who treat them.
In this new and updated edition, Robinson portrays the many different kinds of workaholism, drawing on hundreds of case reports from his own original research and years of clinical practice. From California to the Carolinas, men and women tell of their agonizing bouts with workaholism and the devastations left in its wake, struggles made all the more challenging in a world where the computer, cell phone, and Blackberry allow twenty-four-hour access to the office, even on weekends and from vacation spots. Adult children of workaholics describe their childhood pain and the lifelong legacies they still carry, and the spouses or partners of workaholics reveal the isolation and loneliness of their vacant relationships. Employers and business colleagues discuss the cost to the company when workaholism dominates the workplace.
Chained to the Desk both counsels and consoles. It provides a step-by-step guide to help readers spot workaholism, understand it, and recover. Robinson presents strategies for workaholics and their loved ones on how to cope, and for people in the workplace on how to distinguish between work efficiency and workaholism.
Americans love a hard worker. The man or woman who works eighteen-hour days and eats his or her meals on the run between appointments is usually viewed with a combination of respect and awe. But for many, this lifestyle leads to family problems, a decline in work productivity, and ultimately to physical and mental collapse.
Chained to the Desk, best-selling author and widely respected family therapist Bryan E. Robinson's groundbreaking book, originally published in 1998, was the first comprehensive portrait of the workaholic. Thousands benefited from this innovative book, which profiles the myths behind this greatly misunderstood disorder and the inner psychological battle that work addicts wage against themselves. Intended for anyone touched by what Robinson calls "the best-dressed problem of the twenty-first century," the author also provides an inside look into the impact on those who live and work with them --partners, spouses, children, and colleagues--as well as the appropriate techniques for clinicians who treat them.
In this new and updated edition, Robinson portrays the many different kinds of workaholism, drawing on hundreds of case reports from his own original research and years of clinical practice. From California to the Carolinas, men and women tell of their agonizing bouts with workaholism and the devastations left in its wake, struggles made all the more challenging in a world where the computer, cell phone, and Blackberry allow twenty-four-hour access to the office, even on weekends and from vacation spots. Adult children of workaholics describe their childhood pain and the lifelong legacies they still carry, and the spouses or partners of workaholics reveal the isolation and loneliness of their vacant relationships. Employers and business colleagues discuss the cost to the company when workaholism dominates the workplace.
Chained to the Desk both counsels and consoles. It provides a step-by-step guide to help readers spot workaholism, understand it, and recover. Robinson presents strategies for workaholics and their loved ones on how to cope, and for people in the workplace on how to distinguish between work efficiency and workaholism.
274 pages, Paperback
First published February 21, 2014
60 people are currently reading
287 people want to read
About the author
Bryan E. Robinson
49 books39 followersAuthor Bio
Bryan E. Robinson, Ph.D. is a novelist, licensed psychotherapist, Professor Emeritus at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and a Fellow of the American Institute of Stress. He has authored over thirty-five nonfiction books including Chained to the Desk: A Guidebook for Workaholics, Their Partners and Children, and the Clinicians Who Treat Them (3rd Ed., New York University Press, 2013), The Smart Guide to Managing Stress (Smart Guide Publications, 2012), The Art of Confident Living (HCI Books, 2009), Don’t Let Your Mind Stunt Your Growth (New Harbinger Press, 2000), and Heal Your Self-Esteem (HCI Books, 1991) just to name a few. His debut novel is a Southern murder mystery titled Limestone Gumption (published by Gale/Five Star Publishers January 2014).
His books have been translated into thirteen languages, and he has written for over one-hundred professional journals and for such popular magazines as Psychology Today, First for Women, American Health, Your Health, Natural Health, Total Health, Lady’s Circle, Complete Woman, and Psychotherapy Networker. His monthly column “Mindmatters” appeared in Your Health Magazine for two years. His work has been featured in Town and Country, Marie Claire, McCall’s, Mademoiselle, Out Magazine, Web MD, Shape, New Age Journal, Atlantic Monthly, Good Housekeeping, Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Ladies’ Home Journal, Forbes, Fast Company, Fortune, Men’s Journal, Best Life, and in newspapers such as The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Charlotte Observer, Chicago Tribune, Christian Science Monitor, The Atlanta Constitution, USA Today, New York Post, and The Miami Herald.
He has won two awards for writing: the First Citizen’s Scholars Medal from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte for excellence in scholarship, creativity, and/or research. The prestigious Extended Research Award from the American Counseling Association for his outstanding body of pioneer research on workaholism and the family. He is listed as a leading authority on “workaholism” in Wikipedia where his clinical findings are discussed.
He has lectured across the United States and throughout the world. His work has been featured on every major television network. He has appeared on ABC’s 20/20, Good Morning America, and ABC’s World News Tonight; NBC Nightly News, NBC Universal, the CBS Early Show, CNBC’s The Big Idea, and CNN’s Minding Your Money, plus hundreds of local and national television and radio shows. He hosted the PBS documentary, Overdoing It: When Work Rules Your Life.
He is currently writing a memoir and maintains a private clinical practice in Asheville and Charlotte, NC. He resides in the Blue Ridge Mountains with his partner, four dogs, and occasional bears at night. Visit his website:www.bryanrobinsonnovels.com or email him: bryanrobinson@bryanrobinsononline.com.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
August 9, 2022
This is a pretty scary read for someone who jokingly called herself a workaholic for so many years. It turns out that many of what I call personality quirks are actually classic traits of workaholics. Good thing I'm in therapy!
Slow forward lucky 13 years later and it turns to be all about childhood trauma. Meetings are your friend if you find this book to be helpful and relevant.
Slow forward lucky 13 years later and it turns to be all about childhood trauma. Meetings are your friend if you find this book to be helpful and relevant.
June 9, 2022
Connotations of the term “workaholic” often involves two countervailing nuances: a positive one that appreciates the value of hard work and a negative one that points out a neglect of personal issues. Many of us in the United States, with all our appreciation of a Protestant work ethic, can suffer from this disease – yes, disease. It can cause pain in the worker along with pain and loneliness in their immediate family (partners and children). Robinson, himself a recovering workaholic and a counselor of workaholics, describes in this book signs to diagnose this problematic behavior and treatments to help alleviate its burden.
Because it is not defined in the DSM (psychologists’ Bible), Robinson defines workaholicism as an addiction, one with biochemical and behavioral impacts. It influences the hormonal makeup of the workaholic as well as the culture around the workaholic. Each of Robinson’s twelve chapters begins with a testimonial about how this problem has significantly impacted someone’s everyday life. Readers can easily identify themselves or those around them in these stories.
Most distressing to a psychologist like Robinson is how workaholics tend to destroy their lives outside of work to support their addiction to work. They obsess about work even when they’re not working. Their relationships are built to feed into their work. Partners and children are not allowed to be themselves but instead must support the ambitions of the workaholic in a codependent manner. However, because both workaholic and family work incredibly hard, this disease often masks in professional success and social admiration. Still, as Robinson carefully records, the pain and dysfunction remain, and clinicians can help.
I come from a heavily workaholic family of origin but have slowly and deliberately adapted my habits away from constantly obsessing about work. This book affirmed many of these changes, wrought over decades, as positive ones. It also pointed me to ways that I can continue to change and become more impactful – both in my work and in my life outside of work.
Work is not evil, but how we approach it can become problematic. Workaholics and those close to them, along with clinicians who treat them, can benefit from reading this book critically. Robinson claims that many clinicians overlook symptoms of this addiction because they themselves are workaholics. Work-life balance must begin at the root, and even the innocent victims of the disease (both partners and children) must examine themselves to ascertain how they’ve enabled the workaholic’s behavior. This book is a great way to undertake such a self-examination.
Because it is not defined in the DSM (psychologists’ Bible), Robinson defines workaholicism as an addiction, one with biochemical and behavioral impacts. It influences the hormonal makeup of the workaholic as well as the culture around the workaholic. Each of Robinson’s twelve chapters begins with a testimonial about how this problem has significantly impacted someone’s everyday life. Readers can easily identify themselves or those around them in these stories.
Most distressing to a psychologist like Robinson is how workaholics tend to destroy their lives outside of work to support their addiction to work. They obsess about work even when they’re not working. Their relationships are built to feed into their work. Partners and children are not allowed to be themselves but instead must support the ambitions of the workaholic in a codependent manner. However, because both workaholic and family work incredibly hard, this disease often masks in professional success and social admiration. Still, as Robinson carefully records, the pain and dysfunction remain, and clinicians can help.
I come from a heavily workaholic family of origin but have slowly and deliberately adapted my habits away from constantly obsessing about work. This book affirmed many of these changes, wrought over decades, as positive ones. It also pointed me to ways that I can continue to change and become more impactful – both in my work and in my life outside of work.
Work is not evil, but how we approach it can become problematic. Workaholics and those close to them, along with clinicians who treat them, can benefit from reading this book critically. Robinson claims that many clinicians overlook symptoms of this addiction because they themselves are workaholics. Work-life balance must begin at the root, and even the innocent victims of the disease (both partners and children) must examine themselves to ascertain how they’ve enabled the workaholic’s behavior. This book is a great way to undertake such a self-examination.
July 4, 2015
Exactly what I thought it would be. Shallow but helpful. Boring to read but some insights. Myopic in scope.
It may be that the great American successes were all workaholics. That you have to be one to succeed nowadays. Sometimes I wonder if the mental health ideal sold by psychiatrists really exists.
Gave me some good things to think about for sure.
It may be that the great American successes were all workaholics. That you have to be one to succeed nowadays. Sometimes I wonder if the mental health ideal sold by psychiatrists really exists.
Gave me some good things to think about for sure.
October 13, 2017
This book was recommended to me by a boss of mine and it changed my life. Some chapters will require a lot of reflection, so don't blow through it. Take time to reflect and absorb. I personally journaled all the way through it.
March 23, 2024
📕 Why (Not) to read this book (Target Audience)
Book that can be confronting when you are a workaholic.
👀 How this book changed my daily live (Takeaways)
Workaholics on a high (workers high), burn out other workers.
Workaholics get burnout when
• Discovering they had an empty life
• Not reaching the next recognition (workers high)
⁉ Spoiler Alerts (Highlights)
Self leasership - Look at your qualities/traits as parts not as your identity, their are a lot more parts to yourself, besides performance.
1. Be realistic
2. What is your motivation
3. Respect refusal off help
4. Show how to fish
5. Set emotional boundries
6. Practice what you preach
Book that can be confronting when you are a workaholic.
👀 How this book changed my daily live (Takeaways)
Workaholics on a high (workers high), burn out other workers.
Workaholics get burnout when
• Discovering they had an empty life
• Not reaching the next recognition (workers high)
⁉ Spoiler Alerts (Highlights)
Self leasership - Look at your qualities/traits as parts not as your identity, their are a lot more parts to yourself, besides performance.
1. Be realistic
2. What is your motivation
3. Respect refusal off help
4. Show how to fish
5. Set emotional boundries
6. Practice what you preach
March 4, 2017
This book didn't take too long to read and was quite helpful for me, especially chapters 1-5 and 12. Most people don't consider workaholism to be a serious disorder, and the personal stories in each chapter of the book really drives home the extent of the damage caused by workaholism. While I don't think I qualify as a workaholic, I do recognize some warning signs in my behaviour and thought patterns that are similar to those described in the book. I am glad I came across this book and can adjust before this significantly impacts my life.
April 25, 2016
Chained to the Desk explores workaholism through the addictive lens. Robinson illustrates how difficult for those concerned to seek help as work addiction appears to others as initiative and dedication and how friends and family are often disregarded when dissatisfied with their unavailable partners.
Robinson hopes to integrate workaholism into the professional literature on codependency and this is far and away the book’s greatest strength. He ably demonstrates the impact on the family and how the course of work compulsion has its origins in early family experience.
However, there are some notable flaws and inconsistencies in the work. Robinson, a researcher and advocate, is championing for the disease to be integrated into the DSM but not within obsessive-compulsive disorders…although much of the remainder of the book illustrates the compulsive nature of the choices his clients make. While this appears minor on the surface, it points to Robinson’s lack of cohesion in his work overall. His research is cherry-picked and surface-level, as well.
To his credit, the author integrates codependency, neurology on trauma response, psychopharmacology, and practical cognitive-behavioral and mindfulness-based practices to address stress, the majority of it research-backed. All of these approaches are more capably studied and expressed elsewhere but none on the specific issue of work addiction. Although the work is flawed, it manages to transcend these issues and emerge as something greater than the sum of its parts.
Robinson hopes to integrate workaholism into the professional literature on codependency and this is far and away the book’s greatest strength. He ably demonstrates the impact on the family and how the course of work compulsion has its origins in early family experience.
However, there are some notable flaws and inconsistencies in the work. Robinson, a researcher and advocate, is championing for the disease to be integrated into the DSM but not within obsessive-compulsive disorders…although much of the remainder of the book illustrates the compulsive nature of the choices his clients make. While this appears minor on the surface, it points to Robinson’s lack of cohesion in his work overall. His research is cherry-picked and surface-level, as well.
To his credit, the author integrates codependency, neurology on trauma response, psychopharmacology, and practical cognitive-behavioral and mindfulness-based practices to address stress, the majority of it research-backed. All of these approaches are more capably studied and expressed elsewhere but none on the specific issue of work addiction. Although the work is flawed, it manages to transcend these issues and emerge as something greater than the sum of its parts.
October 28, 2016
The section about reengineering your brain for positive adaption was fabulous and gave me hope! The notion that you can rewire your brain through regular practice and repetition of tasks – creating a healthier brain by bringing balance to old workaholic habits (p. 224).
Self-regulation and recovery from workaholism seemed like a good way to approach healing in a gradual way. The analogy of not being able to stop working completely, just like a food addict can’t stop eating completely really is true. So teaching the workaholic to swing the pendulum more to the middle is key. Building an inner resource – being centered, here and now, meditation are all great practices that can help. Practicing mindfulness exercises on p. 241.
Self-regulation and recovery from workaholism seemed like a good way to approach healing in a gradual way. The analogy of not being able to stop working completely, just like a food addict can’t stop eating completely really is true. So teaching the workaholic to swing the pendulum more to the middle is key. Building an inner resource – being centered, here and now, meditation are all great practices that can help. Practicing mindfulness exercises on p. 241.
November 11, 2019
I almost gave up on this book but I’m so glad I didn’t! This is a fantastic book full of helpful information & resources for workaholics and their families as well as companies that promote a workaholic culture. Great book for anyone who wants to learn more about being a workaholic and how to improve work/life balance.
September 28, 2010
Good news--I'm not a workaholic. Bad news--I have tendencies (ha ha). An enlightening book about this disease and how our larger culture encourages and gives strokes to workaholics--not good. Remember, balance in all things.
February 22, 2016
A well organized book with great examples/stories of people who suffer from work addiction, helpful tools to evaluate your own addiction level, and very enlightening research into the causes and results of these compulsive behaviors.
September 9, 2007
And I charged it to the company too.
July 22, 2012
Essential for work addicts like me.
July 21, 2015
I didn't read it all, well I didn't feel I had to as I am recovering ACoW, I read only parts I was interested in.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews