OCD produces serious anxiety. Compulsive cleaning is often related to fears of contamination, and compulsive arranging can be caused by a need for symmetry and balance. This disorder can be treated with therapy, medications, and procedures that stimulate parts of your brain known to be affected by the disorder.
I'm not here to bury the lead; in simple terms, decluttering means to get rid of or remove things you don't need to make your space more pleasant and useful. This can mean donating, trashing or selling your excess stuff that you don't need, want or have use for any more.
The Psychology Behind Clutter
The chaos of an unorganized environment can mirror the chaos in our minds, making it difficult to relax or concentrate. Experts in the field of psychology and organization have observed that decluttering can significantly improve one's mood and mental health.
Obsessive Compulsive Spartanism, also known as Obsessive Decluttering, is usually seen as a form of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD).
Evidence suggests that having a messy, cluttered environment can create stress and interfere with your ability to concentrate, at least for some people. The actual act of cleaning and decluttering can boost your mood, help you move your body more, improve focus, and help you feel more in control of your surroundings.
A hoarding disorder is where someone acquires an excessive number of items and stores them in a chaotic manner, usually resulting in unmanageable amounts of clutter. The items can be of little or no monetary value.
Underlying OCD tendencies
Individuals with OCD may experience overbearing thoughts or obsessions related to clutter. They would feel pressured to engage in repetitive behaviors, like excessive decluttering, to reduce their anxiety.
Compulsive cleaning may be caused by underlying mental health conditions, coping mechanisms for stress or anxiety, traumatic events, or cultural and societal influences. Whatever the underlying cause, a cleaning addiction can be a serious problem.
While some chalk it up to laziness, there's actually underlying psychology of clutter and disorganization that keeps people from tidying up. Potential reasons people hold onto clutter include: They feel overwhelmed: It's often a huge job to get rid of things, which can be physically and mentally exhausting.
If you are experiencing lots of stress from something in your life (work, school, family, etc) you can feel urges to clean. These urges stem from not being able to relieve the stress but needing to do something to feel better. Having a clean space helps promote mental health and wellbeing.
It is entirely possible to declutter too much. Decluttering incessantly will result in you not being able to complete daily tasks easily – not because you can't get around your house but because you don't have what you need. You can also suffer from declutter regret, missing items you once let go of.
Someone with a tendency to save everything, accumulating more and more, is a hoarder. It can be very difficult for a hoarder to throw anything away. You can use this word for someone who stockpiles things like food or paper goods in case of emergencies or natural disasters.
Messy house syndrome presents in older adults, usually 60 and over. People with messy house syndrome cannot maintain a healthy household. They hoard large amounts of useless objects within their homes. Often, their homes are so cluttered that they are inhabitable and unsafe.
Random bursts of motivation to clean are considered manic only if they are unusual, noticeable, occur every day for a week or more and affect a person's daily life, such as their ability to work or care for their children, Miklowitz said.
Clearing your space from things that you no longer need or resonate with helps you create space for the next version of you to come through.
Certain ways of dealing with stress can be dangerous. If you start smoking or smoke more, you put your health in danger. Gambling, over-spending money, self-harming, restricting or binging and purging food, and feeling driven to have an "adrenalin rush" with dangerous activities can all become dangerous as well.
Decluttering increases self-worth, creates healthy habits, and boosts productivity. A clean and tidy home can also improve sleep, boost mood, and promote relaxation.
It's possible that you use cleaning rituals to cope with other conditions, like anxiety. Or maybe you just thrive in a clean environment. But obsessive cleaning can become a threat to your well-being when the need for cleanliness and order becomes unmanageable.
A devotion to the habits and qualities of the ancient Spartans, especially to an indomitable spirit, undaunted hardihood, and stark simplicity.
Extreme decluttering is when people get rid of huge amounts of things in the decluttering process. This isn't when people end up with a bag or two of things. When people extreme declutter they are getting rid of a high volume of things. These people went for it and have very dramatic before and afters.
Behavioral/psychological: Clutter caused by depression, attention deficit disorder, low self-esteem or lack of personal boundaries. Time/life management: Clutter caused by the need for better planning. Of these, the behavioral/psychological-driven clutter is the hardest to solve.
It is often unrecognized by outside observers and the hoarder. Indicators include difficulty parting with redundant items, excessive shopping for items already in the home or not needed, accessible stairs, doors, and windows, no noticeable odors in the home, little to no visible…
Symptoms of ADHD Clutter Anxiety
This may include cluttered surfaces, piles of paperwork or clothing, and difficulty finding necessary items. People with ADHD clutter anxiety may also experience feelings of overwhelm or anxious when faced with clutter or disorganization.