ABSTRACT
A lack of satisfaction in work is endemic to our time and is common to both normal work life and all forms of work disturbance. Confusion about ambition and ideals is a hallmark of work diffusion. These are people who may either lack a certain drive for working or apply themselves inconsistently. Persons with the syndrome of work diffusion have difficulty making distinctions between reality and fantasy or between the work principle and the pleasure principle. In many cases of work diffusion, workplace relationships become a primary concern, often at the expense of attention to the tasks themselves. Work diffusion is most common in patients with borderline, narcissistic, and perverse characters. Patients with work diffusion present formidable challenges in therapy. Therapists are often faced with patients who have made only a provisional commitment to a line of work and feel undefined and incomplete.
