Chained to the Desk: A Guidebook for Workaholics, Their Partners and Children, and the Clinicians Who Treat Them

As Seen on ABC's 20/20

Americans love a hard worker. The man or woman who works 18 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.

In Chained to the Desk, best-selling author and widely-respected family therapist Dr. Bryan Robinson has written a groundbreaking book--the first comprehensive portrait of the workaholic. Intended for anyone touched by what Robinson calls "the best-dressed problem of the twentieth century," this innovative volume profiles the myths behind this greatly-misunderstood disorder and the inner psychological battle that work addicts wage against themselves. The book also serves as 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.

Portraying the many different kinds of workaholism, Robinson draws 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. Adult children of workaholics describe their childhood pain and the life-long legacies they still carry. The spouses or partners of workaholics reveal the isolation and loneliness of their vacant relationships and the terror of questioning their own sanity. 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.