Work and Success Addiction Therapy
When Success Comes at a Personal Cost
High achievement. Relentless drive. Constant productivity. For many professionals, these traits define success yet behind the accolades and ambition, a deeper toll may be quietly building chronic stress, emotional numbness, relational disconnection or physical collapse.
Work and success addiction, sometimes referred to as workaholism, executive burnout or even performance addiction, affects high-functioning individuals who find themselves unable to disengage from work, productivity or the pursuit of recognition. It’s a silent, socially rewarded addiction one often disguised as dedication or leadership.
At Addiction Therapist London, I offer discreet, comprehensive psychotherapy for adults whose relationship with work has become overwhelming, compulsive or unsustainable. I specialise in supporting all individuals including CEOs, founders, entrepreneurs, medical professionals, lawyers, consultants, and public figures, individuals whose relentless pursuit of excellence has come at a personal cost.
What Is Work Addiction?
Work addiction is more than long hours or dedication to one’s career. It involves a compulsive psychological drive to work, succeed or prove one’s worth, even when it leads to health deterioration, relationship strain or emotional collapse.
Common signs of work and success addiction include:
- Feeling unable to rest or switch off without guilt or anxiety
- Constantly checking emails, messages or productivity tools
- Prioritising work over physical health, relationships or personal needs
- Viewing “rest” as laziness or failure
- Feeling only valuable, safe or accepted when achieving or succeeding
- Experiencing irritability, insomnia or low mood when not performing
- For many, work becomes more than a role, it becomes a form of identity, control or emotional avoidance.
The Rise of Executive Burnout
Executive burnout is the emotional and physical collapse that can occur when sustained overwork, stress and emotional suppression go unaddressed. It disproportionately affects leaders, high-performers and those in demanding mission-driven sectors.
Symptoms of executive burnout may include:
- Emotional exhaustion and disconnection
- Cognitive fog, impaired memory or poor concentration
- Physical symptoms like chest tightness, migraines or chronic fatigue
- Loss of joy or meaning in previously fulfilling work
- Sudden irritability or emotional withdrawal
- Increased reliance on alcohol, stimulants, sex or tech to unwind
- Breakdowns in relationships due to work preoccupation
Burnout often arrives quietly, misinterpreted as tiredness or “just a busy season” until the consequences become too loud to ignore.
Why Is Work Addiction So Hard to Stop?
Workaholism and success addiction are culturally reinforced. Society often praises overworking as ambition and stoicism as strength. High performers are rewarded for pushing past limits, which creates a reinforcing loop of validation.
But behind this loop often lie deeper emotional patterns:
• Childhood environments where love or safety were linked to achievement
• Fear of failure, scarcity or being “not enough”
• Difficulty expressing vulnerability, receiving care or asking for help
• Trauma, abandonment wounds or attachment anxiety
• Deep-seated beliefs that productivity equals worth
These internalised pressures mean that work becomes not just a task, but a coping mechanism, one that can block emotional insight, intimacy and self-trust.
In my professional experience, many high-achieving clients reach a moment where outward success begins to feel hollow as if their achievements no longer register emotionally. They often say, “I don’t know who I am outside of work.” Therapy provides space to reintroduce the self behind the success; the person who is worthy, not just the performer.
Who I Work With
I support individuals across all sectors who:
- Are caught in chronic overwork cycles they can’t break
- Are emotionally flat, anxious or irritable when not working
- Experience burnout, insomnia or stress-related illness
- Struggle with relationships due to work obsession or emotional unavailability
- Have co-occurring addictions (e.g. to alcohol, sex, stimulants, food or tech)
- Feel disconnected from their identity outside of achievement
Many of my clients are high-functioning, intelligent and respected, but privately overwhelmed, exhausted or lost. They’ve reached a point where outward success is no longer enough.
A Specialist, Integrative Therapeutic Approach
Work and success addiction isn’t solved through time management or productivity hacks, it requires deep psychological work to unearth the emotional systems that sustain the cycle.
My integrative, high-discretion therapy includes:
- Psychodynamic therapy to uncover unconscious drivers, identity wounds and perfectionism
- Relational therapy to explore isolation, intimacy issues or family dynamics
- Polyvagal-informed stress and nervous system support
- Psychoeducation on burnout, adrenaline addiction and brain-body responses to overwork
- Trauma-informed care for developmental or complex trauma
- Creative integration through Art Psychotherapy for those who find verbal expression difficult
- Optional collaboration with psychiatrists or wellness physicians for medical support
Sessions are held in private, elegant consulting rooms in London’s Harley Street Medical Quarter, St Pauls in the City of London, or remotely for clients based across the UK and internationally.
When Work Becomes a Warning Sign
You don’t need to be “falling apart” to deserve help. For many professionals, the breakdown never looks dramatic it looks like emptiness, restlessness, or emotional fatigue beneath a calm exterior.
The statistics are sobering:
- Nearly 1 in 5 employees in the UK report feeling unable to manage stress at work
- The World Health Organization officially recognises burnout as an occupational phenomenon
- Work addiction has been linked to anxiety, depression, heart disease, insomnia, and substance misuse
The cost of success shouldn’t be your health, your relationships, or your sense of self.
The Relationship Between Work Addiction and Other Addictions
Work addiction rarely exists in isolation. Many clients also struggle with:
- Alcohol or stimulant use to sustain performance or escape stress
- Pornography or sex addiction as a release valve for emotional disconnection
- Digital addiction (e.g. compulsive email checking, social media, or gaming)
- Food or exercise compulsion as a form of self-control or numbness
Many clients also share that alongside work addiction, they are dealing with or have previously struggled with other challenges such as mental health difficulties, behavioural addiction, substance abuse, substance use disorder, addiction recovery needs, drug addiction, drug use, or seeking addiction treatment. In some cases, patterns overlap with success addicts, workaholics, or those assessed using tools such as the Bergen Work Addiction Scale — highlighting how deeply work and success behaviours can intersect with other forms of compulsive or harmful use disorder.
Therapy can explore these links holistically, ensuring treatment is both emotionally attuned and practically effective.
Work Addiction and Neurodivergence
Some clients with autism, ADHD, or giftedness experience intense focus, productivity, and high sensitivity to external expectations, which can fuel work addiction or burnout cycles. My practice is neuro-affirming, and sessions can be tailored to accommodate sensory needs, processing styles, or executive functioning challenges.
Begin Your Recovery: Reconnect With Yourself
It may be possible to be successful without being consumed by work; to slow down without collapse; and to reconnect with a sense of self that is not defined only by output.
Therapy can support you in:
- Recalibrating your relationship with work and success
- Recovering emotional regulation and nervous system balance
- Restoring connection to others and to yourself
- Creating a life that honours ambition without sacrificing wellbeing
Confidential, Specialist Support for High-Achieving Individuals
Whether you’re at the beginning of burnout or deep within it, therapy can offer a private, clinically grounded, and non-judgemental space to reflect, repair, and reimagine your relationship with work.
Enquiries are via referral or direct contact. A complimentary 15-minute introductory call is available to explore whether working together feels appropriate.
Book a complimentary consultation or a private therapy session.