Hoarding versus disorder phobia: what really is OCD?

Why is the media so obsessed with OCD focusing on hoarding, when hoarding is the opposite of everything OCD stands for? People with OCD tend to be organized, neat, and clean. Hoarders, on the other hand, are disorganized, disorderly, and pose a general health and safety hazard. They couldn’t be further from the definition of obsessive compulsive disorder if they tried.

Do hoarders even have the obsessions and compulsions that are so integral to OCD, or is their hoarding absurd? Most hoarders will tell you that they don’t even know how their hoarding got out of hand. Is that the meticulous attitude of someone with OCD? I do not believe it! It is a mystery how the hoarding came to be labeled OCD. Less than 1% of the population accumulates and 2.5% of the population has OCD. According to the Mayo Clinic, many people who hoard have no other OCD-related symptoms. Furthermore, according to Dr. Staab of the Mayo Clinic, “Recent functional brain imaging studies suggest a different pattern of brain activity in patients with hoarding versus other OCD symptoms. All of these data support the separation between hoarding and OCD.”

Isn’t it time we debunked the hoarding myth and instead recognized the opposite of hoarding, obsessive-compulsive spartanism, a real and harrowing version of OCD that deserves to be acknowledged? Obsessive compulsive Spartans, they really obsess over their space and things, organizing, counting, arranging, rearranging and purging, constantly feeling cluttered even though they live in minimalist and spartan conditions. Obsessive-compulsive Spartans are so strict about what goes into and what remains in their home, that it causes them great distress and / or disruption in daily life.

Unfortunately, however, the American Psychiatric Association does not officially recognize obsessive compulsive Spartanism as a psychiatric disorder. Even more frustrating is that, in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) IV, hoarding has been classified as a symptom of OCD. Fortunately, however, it appears that hoarding will be classified as a separate disease in the DSM V edition, to be published in 2013.

It is very important to note that obsessive compulsive spartanism has NOTHING to do with OCD contamination (cleaning, hand washing, etc.). And that like cleanliness and control, obsessive compulsive spartanism can be independent and cause a lot of distress as is.

I would suggest that obsessive compulsive spartanism manifests itself as follows:

1) You need to have minimal things in your home.

2) You need to have specific numbers for everything you have in your home.

3) Everything must fit into a category, or you won’t be able to have it at all.

4) Everything has a very specific place.

The TOC part is constant editing: Is this the right shelf for my books, why do I have 6 pairs of shoes, maybe I should have five? A screwdriver doesn’t fit into any of my acceptable categories, so I won’t have one, even if it means constantly pestering the neighbor to borrow theirs. I know I’m about to miss my flight, but I can’t leave the house until I’m happy that my kitchen cabinet doesn’t look cluttered.

Because this brand of OCD never appears in any of the textbooks, and is never talked about, there are likely many sufferers struggling silently and wishing they had some other more famous OCD symptom, just to have it. do not sit. so weird and lonely. Some unfortunate souls probably have no idea that they have OCD and that treatment is available, just like other OCD patients.

Hoarders acknowledge their suffering, Obsessive Compulsive Spartans do not. It may be a lot less interesting or scandalous than hoarding, but it is torture, as only a person suffering from OCD can know.

Think about it. There are:

TOC contamination

Verification

Sorting out

Counting

Hoarding !!!

Conscientiousness (religious OCD)

HOCD

Sexual OCD

Pure O

Pinching the skin

Everyone’s pain is recognized except obsessive-compulsive Spartans! If you have a disorder phobia, this should make you furious and want to raise awareness about this type of torment.

Time to get out of some very neat closets …