Ergophobia

It’s Sunday evening, and the thought of Monday morning makes your stomach knot. For most people that’s a passing grumble. For a few, the dread is so strong that walking through the office door feels close to impossible.

Ergophobia means a fear of, or aversion to, work. Merriam-Webster Medical Online, the word mostly gets used as a joke for not wanting to go to work. But researchers have studied something close to it, which they call “workplace phobia.”

Ergophobia isn’t a diagnosis on its own, and neither is workplace phobia in the main diagnostic manuals. Researchers in Germany have argued that workplace phobia can be a real anxiety problem with its own consequences, separate from other anxiety disorders. PubMed: Muschalla & Linden, 2009

What is workplace phobia?

Beate Muschalla and Michael Linden, researchers at the Charité university hospital in Berlin, define workplace phobia as a phobic anxiety reaction with panic symptoms that happens when a person thinks about or approaches their workplace. People with it regularly avoid the workplace and are often on sick leave. PubMed: Muschalla & Linden, 2009

Their research found:

• In a 2009 study of 230 patients at a psychosomatic rehabilitation hospital, people with workplace phobia were more often on sick leave than people with established anxiety disorders. The authors concluded that workplace phobia can occur on its own. PubMed: Muschalla & Linden, 2009
• In a 2014 study of 288 primary care patients with long-term mental health problems in Germany, 10% had workplace phobia. The authors estimated this as roughly 3% of all general practice patients. People with workplace phobia had longer sick leave and more trouble with work-related abilities. Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine
• In an earlier study of 132 psychosomatic inpatients, 14% had anxiety only about the workplace and no anxiety disorder outside it. PubMed: Linden & Muschalla, 2007

These were people already getting medical care, so the numbers don’t tell us how common the problem is in the general public. They do show that fear of the workplace can be serious enough to keep people off work.

What can it feel like?

Here’s a made-up example. Imagine you’ve had a rough few months at work, with a difficult manager and a mistake that was made public. Now, as you get near the building, your heart pounds and your hands shake. You sit in the parking lot for twenty minutes. Some days you drive home and call in sick. On weekends you feel fine, until Sunday afternoon, when the dread creeps back in.

People with strong work-related fear may notice:

• panic, nausea, or a racing heart when getting ready for work or nearing the workplace
• relief that comes right away when they stay home
• dread that builds the night before a workday
• physical complaints that don’t have a clear medical cause

The 2014 study authors suggested that doctors consider workplace phobia when a patient asks for a sick note for vague physical complaints and avoids their workplace. Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine

Is it just burnout, or laziness?

Workplace phobia isn’t laziness. People who have it often want to work, and the fear is tied to the place or the job, not to effort.

Burnout is a different thing. The World Health Organization describes burnout as an “occupational phenomenon” caused by chronic workplace stress that hasn’t been managed. Its signs are exhaustion, feeling distant from or cynical about your job, and doing your job less well. WHO doesn’t classify burnout as a medical condition. WHO

The two can overlap. Burnout is mainly about running on empty. Workplace phobia is about fear and avoidance, with panic when you approach work. Some people have both.

Fear at work can also come from social anxiety. The NHS lists working as one of the everyday activities people with social anxiety may worry about. NHS: Social anxiety If presenting in meetings or talking to coworkers is the main problem, that points in a different direction.

Fear versus phobia

Disliking your job is normal. So is a sinking feeling on Sunday nights.

It may be more than that when:

• you have panic symptoms on the way to work, or when you think about it
• you avoid work often, even though you need or want to go
• the fear has lasted for weeks or months
• it’s costing you income, your job, or your health

Our fear versus phobia guide explains how clinicians tell everyday fear from a phobia.

Why might it happen?

Workplace fear often has an obvious trigger, such as conflict with a boss, bullying, a frightening incident, or an overwhelming workload. In general, phobias can be linked to a traumatic event involving the feared situation, and anxiety in close relatives raises the risk. NIMH

Avoidance can keep the fear going. Each day away brings relief, which makes the next day back feel even harder. That pattern is part of why Muschalla and Linden argued workplace phobia needs proper treatment, not only sick notes. PubMed: Muschalla & Linden, 2009

What can help?

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a well-established treatment for phobias, and exposure therapy, a part of CBT, helps people slowly return to situations they’ve been avoiding. NIMH For work-related fear, that might mean a planned, step-by-step return, often with help from a therapist and, where possible, an employer.

If something at work is actually unsafe or abusive, that needs to be dealt with too. Therapy shouldn’t be used to make someone tolerate mistreatment.

Things you might try on your own:

• notice exactly which part of work brings on the fear, such as a person, a task, or the building itself
• plan your first hour at work so it’s predictable
• keep your evenings and weekends as calm as you can, and limit checking work messages
• if you’re struggling, talk to HR or an occupational health service about adjustments

Helping someone who’s afraid to go to work

If someone you live with is dreading work to the point of panic, skip the “just push through it” line. Ask what’s happening at work and listen. Offer to help them find a doctor or therapist. Small things, like a lift to work or a check-in text at lunch, may help on hard days. Our guide on supporting someone with a phobia has more ideas.

When to talk to a professional

If fear is keeping you away from work, or you’re relying on sick days to avoid it, talk to a doctor. Be specific about the fear. Saying “I panic when I get near work” gets you better help than describing only headaches or stomach trouble. Our appointment preparation tool can help you plan what to say, and our find help page lists where to start.