THE PSYCHOLOGY OF CLUTTERING

THE PSYCHOLOGY OF CLUTTERING

Cluttering is often a manifestation of deeper psychological issues like: depression, anxiety, [or] AD.HD (ADD)-like symptoms. There may also be some aspects of OCD tendencies, but cluttering is not hoarding. Hoarding affects less than 1% of the population, while cluttering probably affects a good 30% (based on informal surveys).

THERAPY

Choosing whether to be in therapy or not is your decision. Half of our members are in, or have been in therapy. If you are in therapy, great! If you are not and do not intend to be, this is your personal choice. Do what is best for you.

If your psychiatric professional is too quick to dismiss your cluttering as merely laziness, or as Dr. Phil once said, “you just aren’t motivated or don’t know how to clean,” look for a new one. Cluttering is associated with depression and anxiety and working on one will help the other.

Most clutterers have not crossed the line into hoarding, nor are they diagnosable as Obsessive Compulsive Personalities. Yet, we do share some traits with OCP’s. If the symptoms are mild, they often improve when we declutter. More of us seem to share traist with ADD (AD/HD) people. While researching Clutter-Proof Your Business and studying your responses to our surveys, I concluded that cluttering belongs more in province of ADD than OCD.

MULTI-TASKING MINDS

We are all different and take different roads to the same destination. Most of us can’t seem to concentrate on one task and take it to completion. We get easily distracted. We flit from one task to another like butterflies on a warm spring day. Recent studies have shown that people do not multitask very well anyway. So, why are we trying to do something the general population can’t do?

For instance, I make my espresso in the morning. White it is bubbling and making all the weird noises it needs to make itself, I wash or put away dishes from the previous night. That’s using your time effectively, not multitasking. While my computer does its thing to start up in the morning, I file or discard things I didn’t the previous day. Doing unrelated tasks like this is a great way to get rid of your clutter without feeling like you are doing it. It’s kind of a bonus.