The psychology of clutter
Dr. Amie Ragan, a clinical psychologist in private practice, has recently started a blog looking at the psychology of clutter. It seems as if she’s focusing more on compulsive hoarding than on more typical disorganization. That said, she finds certain personality types have more clutter than others and tries to offer tips for working through their problems. According to a story about her
Anxious people might have a need to hold on to things, depressed people might not have the energy to get rid of things, perfectionists might have a hard time because they fear the result won’t be perfect, and older people might have down-sized their living space without down-sizing their possessions, she says.
Depending on the severity of the cluttering, people might need professional help, or they might just need to take a good, hard look at themselves. If they don’t, they could find themselves in a vicious cycle.
“Clutter can cause depression and anxiety, and vice-versa,” Ragan says.
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Posted by Jerry on Apr 6, 2007 |
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Posted by Dr. ragan - 04/07/2007
Thank you for passing my blog on to others Jerry. One point of clarification, I think my focus is on clutter that is caused by and causes emotional chaos. It may, at times, seem similar to compulsive hoarding, but that problem is much more serious than I am currently tackling on my blog. If you want to better understand the emotional components of managing your stuff, come and look around
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