Refusal of work is behavior which refuses to adapt to regular employment.

As actual behavior, with or without a political or philosophical program, it has been practiced by various subcultures and individuals. Radical political positions have openly advocated refusal of work. From within Marxism it has been advocated by Paul Lafargue and the Italian workerist/autonomists (e.g. Antonio Negri, Mario Tronti), the French ultra-left (e.g. Échanges et Mouvement); and within anarchism (especially Bob Black and the post-left anarchy tendency).

The roots of counterdependency can be found in the age-appropriate negativism of two-year-olds and teens, where it serves the temporary purpose of distancing one from the parental figure[s]. As Selma Fraiberg put it, the two-year-old "says 'no' with splendid authority to almost any question addressed to him...as if he establishes his independence, his separateness from his mother, by being opposite". Where the mother has difficulty accepting the child's need for active distancing, the child may remain stuck in the counterdependent phase of development because of developmental trauma.

In similar fashion, the teenager needs to be able to establish the fact of their separate mind to their parents, even if only through a sustained state of cold rejection; and again unresolved adolescent issues can lead to a mechanical counterdependence and unruly assertiveness in later life.

Counterdependency is the state of refusal of attachment, the denial of personal need and dependency, and may extend to the omnipotence and refusal of dialogue found in destructive narcissism, for example.

Paruresis ( ) is a type of phobia in which the sufferer is unable to urinate in the real or imaginary presence of others, such as in a public restroom. The analogous condition that affects bowel movement is called parcopresis.

Disability fraud is the receipt of payment(s) intended for the disabled from a government agency or private insurance company by one who should not be receiving them, or the receipt of a higher amount than one who is entitled to them should be receiving. There are various acts that may constitute disability fraud. These include feigning a medical problem in order to be declared disabled, exaggeration of an existing medical problem that potentially can but in reality does not render the person disabled, continuing to receive payments after having recovered from a medical problem, or continuing to receive payments while working (usually unreported) above the allowable level for those receiving the payments.

Disability fraud can be harder to detect than other forms of fraud, as the majority of people receiving disability payments (at least 90%) do not use a wheelchair or walker, while at the same time, many people who need wheelchairs would not qualify for disability payments. Since most disabilities are "silent" (meaning that they cannot be seen by others), it is not easy to visually determine if a person receiving disability is not disabled. Such people are often able to perform physical activities, but have some other underlying cause of their disability. It is therefore common for people to believe they must report a neighbor who they see, for example, climbing on the roof while collecting disability payments, but this is not always the case.

Meanwhile, true disability fraud cases exist, for which it is hard to determine the cause as being fraudulent. Often, the perpetrator claims to have a medical condition to be declared disabled. Some medical conditions are truly debilitating and make it impossible or difficult to work if one has them, but are hard to prove against one's own word that one does not have them. These include chronic fatigue syndrome, chronic pain, or various mental disorders. Even if one with one of them is viewed engaging in some other "work-like" activity not for pay, they may have difficulty holding a job.

It is possible that the illegal recipient of the disability payments is not truly disabled, and may have a case of work aversion, which in many countries is not alone considered a valid reason for being declared disabled, or the person may otherwise lack a work ethic. Others who are receiving payments are actually working, but are not reporting their employment and collecting their income in a manner that cannot easily be detected.

Disability fraud can result in denial of future benefits as well as criminal prosecution.

Digital hoarding (also known as e-hoarding) is excessive acquisition and reluctance to delete electronic material no longer valuable to the user. The behavior includes the mass storage of digital artifacts and the retainment of unnecessary or irrelevant electronic data. The term is increasingly common in pop culture, used to describe the habitual characteristics of compulsive hoarding, but in cyberspace. As with physical space in which excess items are described as "clutter" or "junk," excess digital media is often referred to as "digital clutter."

It appears that paruresis involves a tightening of the sphincter and/or bladder neck due to a sympathetic nervous system response. The adrenaline rush that produces the involuntary nervous system response probably has peripheral and central nervous system involvement. The internal urethral sphincter (smooth muscle tissue) or the external urethral sphincter (striated muscle), levator ani (especially the pubococcygeus) muscle area, or some combination of the above, may be involved. It is possible that there is an inhibition of the detrusor command through a reflex pathway as well. The pontine micturition center (Barrington's nucleus) also may be involved, as its inhibition results in relaxation of the detrusor and prevents the relaxation of the internal sphincter.

The United States Social Security Administration accepts reports from the public for the following types of fraud:

- Applicants who state they are not married when they are. Those receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI) can have their benefits reduced by their spouse's income and assets, so some applicants may wish to hide the existence, income, or assets of their spouse.

- Claims of blindness. In particular, the Social Security Administration is concerned about those who declare they are blind and unable to drive, but are later found to be in possession of a driver's license and are observed (legally) operating a motor vehicle.

- Unreported income. Some types of income that often go unreported are from renting out a portion of one's home, or from an insurance policy.

- Employment changes, in a person who was not working at the time they applied for and started to receive benefits, but has since returned to work.

- A person who is living in an institution, such as a long-term care facility or a prison.

- A person who is the legal custodian (representative payee) of a disabled person's money spending it on some expense other than that of the disabled person.

- A person who cashes the checks of a deceased person.

International human rights law does not recognize the refusal of work or right not to work by itself except the right to strike. However the Abolition of Forced Labour Convention adopted by International Labour Organization in 1957 prohibits all forms of forced labour.

Digital hoarding stems from a variety of individual traits and habits, corporate conditions, and societal trends:

- Some individuals experience anxiety when faced with disposing of digital items, particularly if they fear losing something important.

- Many digital hoarders don't know how to organize their digital content or aren't in the habit of doing so, and they lack a methodology for determining which content is worth keeping.

- Keeping all of one's digital files requires less time and effort than evaluating and deleting them.

- Many businesses rely on email correspondence for decision-making and formal approvals, so employees are often careful to keep work emails in case they are needed to verify a decision later.

- Data storage devices are now so large and inexpensive that individuals and companies often do not feel the need to save data selectively.

- The widespread availability and rapid dissemination of open content on the Internet makes it easier for users to obtain digital media, which can accumulate more quickly than ever.

- Since digital media do not take up physical space, they're less likely to be perceived as clutter, and users can more easily forget the extent of what they own.

- Unlike many physical items, electronic content does not die or decay on its own; users must consciously choose to delete it.

Factors that can cause reluctance to attend school can be divided into four categories. These categories have been developed based on studies in the United States under the leadership of Professor Christopher Kearney. Some students may be affected by several factors at once.

- The child might want to be free.

- The child possibly wants to avoid school-related issues and situations that cause them to experience unpleasant feelings, such as anxiety, depression, or psychosomatic symptoms. The reluctance to attend school is one symptom that can indicate the presence of a larger issue, such as anxiety disorder, depression, learning disability, sleep disorder, separation anxiety or panic disorder.

- The child may want to avoid tests, presentations, group work, specific lessons, or interaction with other children. The child should be assessed for learning disabilities if academic performance is average or low.

- The child may want attention from significant people outside of school, such as parents or older acquaintances.

- The child possibly wants to do something more enjoyable outside of school, like practice hobbies, play computer games, watch movies, play with friends such as riding bikes, etc., or learn autodidactictally.

Other factors can be:

- Anxiety about academic achievement and being tested can arise on the basis of inflated claims by teachers and/or parents, but also unrealistic ambitions of the upset child themselves.

- School refusal may arise as a response to bullying or peer rejection.

- Shyness or a social phobia can contribute to school refusal.

- The child might worry about parents or siblings, for instance, a parent with substance abuse, or a parent who physically abuses other family members.

- Some students may refuse to go to school due to anxiety or fears of emergency drills, such as fire, lockdown, and tornado drills.

Mageirocophobia is derived from the classical Greek noun mágeiros (μάγειρος), which means chef or butcher.

Mageirocophobia can be caused by other personality traits, social anxieties or disorders. It can be set off by high expectations from other family members, failures with cookbooks, or difficulties in executing successfully in a culinary course. It can also lead to other phobias and social disorders.

School refusal is the refusal to attend school due to emotional distress. School refusal differs from truancy in that children with school refusal feel anxiety or fear towards school, whereas truant children generally have no feelings of fear towards school, often feeling angry or bored with it instead. Children's Hospital Boston provides a chart showing the difference between the school refusal and truancy.

Besides calling it School Refusal, it can also be called schooliophobia, school phobia was coined by a former editor. Schooliophobia is coined as all phobias are derived from Greek. In such cases, School in Greek is σχοείο. The term "school refusal" was coined to reflect that children have problems attending school for a variety of different reasons and these reasons might not be the expression of a true phobia, such as separation or social anxiety.

In today’s world using computers is a necessity for the majority of people but not many people actually consider the medical consequences that working with computers can cause, such as damaged eyesight, bad posture, arthritis in fingers and computer stress injuries that can be caused by sitting in one position for a prolonged period of time. The above problems are more commonly associated with old age but due to many factors such as poor component design, proximity of the user to the screen and an excess of consecutive working hours mean that the above problems can feature in both young and old computer users. This is an extremely important issue as computers become more important in every corner of employment the medical effects caused by them will elevate unless sufficient research is performed and time is dedicated into eliminating and reducing these problems as much as possible. It is estimated that today at least 75% of all jobs involve some level of computer use; this means three-quarters of the workforce are being exposed to numerous health problems, the same can be said of students and educators who do not go through any day without access to a computer for academic work. The figure for people working with and using computers recreationally is to increase considerably in the coming years so it is crucially important that these problems are identified and resolved sooner rather than later in an effort to reduce if not eradicate these problems.

Sick building syndrome can also occur due to factors of the home. Laminated flooring can cause more exposure to chemicals and more resulting SBS symptoms compared to stone, tile, and cement flooring. Recent redecorating and new furnishings within the last year were also found to be associated with increased symptoms, along with dampness and related factors, having pets, and the presence of cockroaches. The presence of mosquitoes was also a factor related to more symptoms, though it is unclear whether it was due to the presence of mosquitoes or the use of repellents.

Notable physical medical problems that can arise from using computers include Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, Computer Vision Syndrome, and Musculoskeletal problems.

One study looked at commercial buildings and their employees, comparing some environmental factors suspected of inducing SBS to a self-reported survey of the occupants, finding that the measured psycho-social circumstances appeared more influential than the tested environmental factors. The list of environmental factors in the study can be found here. Limitations of the study include that it only measured the indoor environment of commercial buildings, which have different building codes than residential buildings, and that the assessment of building environment was based on layman observation of a limited number of factors.

Research has shown that SBS shares several symptoms common in other conditions thought to be at least partially caused by psychosomatic tendencies. The umbrella term "autoimmune/inflammatory syndrome induced by adjuvants" has been suggested. Other members of the suggested group include Silicosis, Macrophagic myofascitis, The Gulf War syndrome, Post-vaccination phenomena.

Work aversion (or aversion to work) is the state of avoiding or not wanting to work or be employed, or the extreme preference of leisure as opposed to work. It can be attributed to laziness, boredom or burnout. Work aversion is not a recognized psychological disorder in the DSM-IV.

The mental health community does not recognize work aversion as an illness or disease and therefore no medically recognized treatments exist. Those attempting to treat work aversion as an illness may use psychotherapy, counseling, medication, or some more unusual forms of treatment.

In the case where the person has not worked for a while due to a workplace injury, work-hardening can be used to build strength. The person works for a brief period of time in the first week, such as two hours per day and increases the amount of work each week until full-time hours are reached.

Felching is a sexual practice involving the act of orally sucking semen out of the anus of one's partner. The act of sucking semen out of a vagina is known as creampie eating.

Bibliomania can be a symptom of obsessive–compulsive disorder which involves the collecting or even hoarding of books to the point where social relations or health are damaged.

Elective mutism was defined as a refusal to speak in almost all social situations (despite normal ability to do so), while selective mutism is considered to be a "failure" to speak in specific situations and is strongly associated with social anxiety disorder. In contrast to selective mutism, someone who is electively mute may not speak in any situation, as is usually shown in books and movies. Elective mutism is often attributed to defiance or the effect of trauma.

Ergophobia or ergasiophobia is an abnormal and persistent fear of (manual labor, non-manual labour, etc.) or finding employment. Ergophobia may also be a subset of either social phobia or performance anxiety. Sufferers of ergophobia experience undue anxiety about the workplace environment even though they realize their fear is irrational. Their fear may actually be a combination of fears, such as fear of failing at assigned tasks, speaking before groups at work (both of which are types of performance anxiety), socializing with co-workers (a type of social phobia), and other fears of emotional, psychological and/or physiological injuries.

The term "ergophobia" comes from the Greek "ergon" (work) and "phobos" (fear).

Bibliomania is not to be confused with bibliophilia, which is the usual love of books and is not considered a clinical psychological disorder.

Other abnormal behaviours involving books include book-eating (bibliophagy), compulsive book-stealing (bibliokleptomania), and book-burying (bibliotaphy).