Additionally, some people hold onto clutter because they feel guilty about getting rid of something they've spent money on, or they hold onto things "just in case" they might need in the future. These emotional and psychological factors can make decluttering a challenging and emotional process.
The perception of clutter as comforting can be attributed to several psychological and emotional factors: Nostalgia and Memory: Clutter often consists of personal items that hold sentimental value. These objects can evoke memories and feelings of comfort, warmth, and familiarity, creating a sense of home.
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.
Clutter puts your mind into overdrive, causing your senses to focus on what isn't important, leading to stress. A messy environment draws your attention from where it ought to be.
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.
"Excessive clutter and disorganization are often symptoms of a bigger health problem, such as attention deficit disorder (ADD), depression or obsessive compulsive disorder," Hurtado says. "If this is the case, the behavior needs to change versus the logistics of the home, like space or layout."
“Kerri Richardson's new book, What Your Clutter Is Trying to Tell You helps you clear the clutter in your life by figuring out why it's in your life to begin with. It not only helps you eliminate physical clutter, but emotional and mental blockages, too, creating space for your soul to be energized!
The findings add to a growing body of evidence that clutter can negatively impact mental well-being, particularly among women. Clutter can also induce a physiological response, including increased levels of cortisol, a stress hormone.
Ataxophobia is the extreme fear of disorder or untidiness. It's closely linked to OCD. People with ataxophobia may clean frequently, worry about being in messy spaces or obsess over symmetry.
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.
Serenity as the Inspiration. Trish Buscemi, a specialist who creates calm interiors for those with cognitive learning challenges, recommends blue, green, and muted brown towns for bedrooms of children with ADHD. These gentle hues actually work well with people of all ages seeking a space that inspires rest and calm.
Others have what is referred to as high-functioning ADHD. While this is not a formal diagnosis, it is a term commonly used to describe people who have ADHD but not to the point that it drastically interferes with their daily lives and responsibilities.
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.
Why do you always feel the need to declutter? Always feeling the need to declutter can be linked to stress and anxiety, where having lots of things in your space increases your anxious feelings. To try and relieve your feelings of stress, you can develop the urge to constantly declutter your space.
Clutter personalities deal with the psychological reasoning that anchors us to our clutter. They are the excuses and wrong-thinking that enslaves us to our stuff, making it difficult to part with things that no longer have value in our lives.
Impact of clutter on mental health
Reduced focus and productivity: Clutter makes it challenging to focus on specific tasks, as our brains get distracted by the visual noise around us. Impact on self-esteem and mood: A cluttered space can lead to feelings of guilt or shame, especially when the mess feels out of control.
Hoarding is a consistent inability to discard or part with belongings, whatever their value. Compared to clutter, hoarding is more extreme, with sufferers holding on to excessive amounts of items.
declutter. (verb) in the sense of simplify. simplify.
One of the primary reasons we hold onto clutter is sentimental attachment. Objects can hold memories and emotions, and getting rid of them can feel like we're getting rid of a part of ourselves. Fear is another reason we hold onto clutter, fear of letting go, fear of the unknown, and fear of loss.
However, highly sensitive people particularly feel the effects of clutter on their mental and emotional well-being. Because a highly sensitive person (HSP) is affected by their environment more than the average person, minimalism can be attractive to HSPs who thrive with less stimulation.
People that have compulsive decluttering disorder think that any items around them are cluttering or disrupting their everyday lives. Throwing these items away gives them satisfaction, and gives them the idea that they are in control of their lives.
Clutter in the living room might suggest blockages in your social life, as well as your relationship with yourself, while a cluttered bedroom might relate to issues surrounding your sexual self, fears of intimacy or gender roles.
Ltd., said that the one-touch rule involves handling an item only once. “Rather than picking something up and setting it down temporarily, you place it immediately in its designated spot. This habit minimises clutter, and helps maintain organisation, and prevents items from piling up,” he said.