Workplace phobia
Workplace phobia is the most severe form of workplacerelated
anxiety. It can be defined as follows: Workplace
phobia is characterized by a classical phobic anxiety reaction
concerning the stimulus workplace. It occurs with a paniclike
reaction with physiological arousal when thinking of the
workplace or approaching. The person shows clear avoidance
behaviour towards the workplace. Due to the symptoms,
there must be severe subjective suffering and/or impairment
in carrying out daily duties at work.
A first empirical research study mentioning the term “workplace
phobia” was the investigation of Haines et al. (2002).
In this work especially the physiological mechanisms of
workplace phobia were studied experimentally. The diagnosis
of workplace phobia was given by clinical judgement.
Participants were separated in three groups: workplace phobic,
work-stressed and non-work-stressed. Criteria for diagnosing
workplace phobia were:
- self-reported intensive fear when approaching or
passing the workplace,
47
- inability to enter the workplace because of severe
anxiety symptoms and
- reduction of symptoms when going away from the
workplace.
The aim of this study was to determine if a group of individuals
who exhibited phobic avoidance of the workplace
could be identified in terms of their psycho-physiological
and psychological responses to stressful work events. All
participants demonstrated increased psycho-physiological
arousal and psychological response to stressful work events
in comparison with neutral events. The workplace phobic
group demonstrated a markedly elevated heart rate response
and subjective reports of fear that distinguished them from
the other groups. The development of the phobic avoidance
response was discussed by the authors in terms of learning
theory.