Work Block: The Role of Work in Mental Health

Some degree of impairment of the ability to work is found almost as regularly among the presenting symptoms of our patients as is a disturbance in sexual relationships. Therefore, among the criteria for mental health and for termination of analysis we must include the ability of the patient to sustain a heterosexual relationship which combines sensuous passion with feelings of tenderness, responsibility and respect, and the ability to work over reasonable periods of time without undue fatigue or difficulty.

If these two functions—loving (the instinctual life) and working—are of such paramount importance it would seem probable that there is some significant relationship between the two. The nature of this relationship has not been much investigated. Can the power to love and be loved be impaired while the power to work remains intact—and vice versa? Are there connections between love-blocks and work-blocks in an individual? I believe we can make a beginning towards answering these questions, that we can demonstrate a certain interdependence of these two functions. If we understand how they are related, a knowledge of the instinctual life illumines much about the work performance and, conversely, a study of details in work habits or work difficulties can give us the clue to understanding the unconscious drives.

We shall distinguish between three types of work: creative work, routine work, and studying. Routine work involves changing something in the outside world in a useful, purposeful way. Creative work involves a double orientation, toward the outer world, like routine work, and toward the “inner” world in the search for new and meaningful connections. Study involves no alteration of the outer world, although it may be a step in preparation for either