Hoarding vs Clutter Phobia, which one is really Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)?

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This is a guest post from Dr Annabelle R Charbit looking at various symtoms of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).  Please use the comments section to ask any questions or to tell your own OCD story!

Why is the media so fixated on OCD being about hoarding, when hoarding is the opposite of everything that OCD stands for? People with OCD tend to be organized, neat freaks and clean. Hoarders on the other hand are disorganized, messy and a general health and safety hazard. They could not 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 mindless? Most hoarders will tell you that they don’t even know how their hoarding got so out of hand. Is that the meticulous attitude of someone with OCD? I don’t think so! It’s a mystery how hoarding ever got labeled as OCD. Less than 1% of the population hoards, and 2.5% of the population has OCD. According to the Mayo Clinic, many people who hoard don’t have 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 of hoarding from OCD.”

Isn’t it time we debunk the hoarding myth and instead give recognition to hoarding’s opposite, Obsessive Compulsive Spartanism, a real and distressing version of OCD that deserves to be recognized?. Obsessive compulsive spartans, really do obsess about their space and their stuff, organizing, counting, arranging, rearranging and purging, constantly feeling cluttered even though they live in minimalistic, Spartan conditions. Obsessive compulsive spartans are so strict about what comes into and what remains in their home, that it causes major distress and/or disruption to daily living.

Sadly though, The American Psychiatric Association does not officially recognize obsessive compulsive spartanism as a psychiatric disorder. Even more frustrating is that, in the Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) IV, hoarding has been categorized as a symptom of OCD. Thankfully, though, it looks like hoarding will be classified as a separate illness in the DSM V edition, due to be published in 2013.

It is very important to note that obsessive compulsive spartanism has NOTHING to do with contamination OCD (cleaning, hand washing etc). And that just like cleaning and checking, obsessive compulsive spartanism can stand alone and cause plenty of distress as is.

I would suggest that obsessive compulsive spartanism manifests itself as follows:
1) Need to have minimum things in your home.
2) Need to have specific numbers of everything that you do have in your home.
3) Everything must fit into a category, or you cannot have it at all
4) Everything has a very specific place.

The OCD part is the 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 bothering the neighbor to borrow theirs. I know I’m about to miss my flight but I can’t leave the house until I am happy that my kitchen cabinet doesn’t look cluttered.

Because this brand of OCD never appears in any of the textbooks, and is never spoken about, it is likely there are many sufferers out there struggling in silence and wishing they had any other more famous OCD symptoms instead, just so they wouldn’t feel so weird and alone. Some unfortunate souls probably have no idea they have OCD at all, and that treatment is available, just as it is to other OCD patients.

Hoarders have recognition of their suffering, obsessive compulsive spartans do not. Perhaps it is far less interesting or scandalous than hoarding, but it is torture, as only an OCD sufferer can know.

Think about it. There’s:

  • Contamination OCD
  • Checking
  • Ordering
  • Counting
  • Hoarding !!!
  • Scrupulosity (religious OCD)
  • HOCD
  • Sexual OCD
  • Pure O
  • Skin picking

Everyone’s pain is recognized, except for the obsessive compulsive spartans! If you are a clutter phobe, this should make you furious, and keen to raise awareness about this type of torment.

Time to come out of some very neat closets…


About Dr. Annabelle R. Charbit
Annabelle grew up in London, UK, and has been writing since 2006, when her comedy play, Sound Advice, was performed by CP Theatre Productions in London, UK.

In 2007, she was published in the London Paper and in the British Neuroscience Association’s Summer Bulletin.

In 2010 she wrote for TheFrisky.com, an online magazine who commissioned her after noticing her blog, Crazy in a Crazy World.

Annabelle holds a PhD in Neuroscience from University College London and has been researching migraine headache at UCSF in San Francisco, about which she has published in scientific journals.

A Life Lived Ridiculously is Annabelle’s first novel.

For more information on Dr. Annabelle R. Charbit, her novel, and how to pre-order the book, log on to http://ridiculouslife.net/

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 Posted by at 3:35 pm
  • Kitchenwitch

    I
    don’t entirely agree with this Anabelle. Hoarding can be a symptom of OCD. I
    have OCD and I’m not a neat freak [at least in the 'physical' sense
    involving objects around the home] because my particular compulsions
    don’t revolve around that. I’m not bothered about cans/bottles facing frontwards, or if my T-towels are in a perfect line.
    My OCD is more your checking type like taps, windows, cookers, doors,
    candles…that type of thing. I also suffer with pure ‘O’ quite badly.
    I did go through a phase of hoarding junk mail/letters/magazines at one
    time because anything red on it, I would convince myself was blood and
    that I’d harmed someone. I kept them because I could check them again
    and again for reassurance. If they were thrown out, I would get anxious
    because I wouldn’t have that ‘certainty’. Another OCD sufferer I know, a friend’s husband, hoards newspapers because he’s afraid of throwing out something important.

  • http://www.facebook.com/annabellerc Annabelle Rc

    Hi Kitchenwitch
    Everything you describe there is OCD. I am certainly not denying that. I too have experienced the checking symptoms which are so time consuming and distressing.
    As for hoarding, it’s status as OCD is actually under review by the American Psychiatric Association, so the outcome (whether hoarding remains OCD or becomes it’s own separate illness) isn’t up to me.
    The main aim of this article is to raise awareness about obsessive compulsive spartanism, and OCD symptom that get so little recognition that it is pure torture for those who suffer from it.
    I hope that those who suffer from obsessive compulsive spartanism will get comfort from knowing that their condition is a recognized symptom of OCD and even has it’s own name.
    Annabelle
    http://www.ridiculouslife.net

  • Kitchenwitch

    Hi Annabelle.  I thought Obsessive Compulsive Spartanism was recognised.  We’re always hearing about David Beckham and other celebs’ OCD due to their compulsive need to have everything in order, in the right number and in it’s place in the home.  You’ve surprised me there :)

  • http://www.facebook.com/annabellerc Annabelle Rc

    Having to have things in order is recognized. Perhaps I didnt make myself clear in the article. Obsessive compulsive spartanism is CLUTTER PHOBIA. These people dont just want order, but they CANT HELP THROWING THINGS OUT!! They live in bare conditions because personal belongings literally drive them mad. The opposite of hoarding.
    Hope this clarifies.
    Annabelle

  • Anna_crumpton

    I have often wondered if there is something at the opposite end of the spectrum when it comes to OCD.  I ask this because for months and years my son has been reluctant to wash, then he started washing but bizarely he gets back into dirty clothing.  Can anyone help me with this please?

  • whoknows

    I do see your point. I’ve had OCD in the past with checking over and over again of my alarm clock. I never got treatment but somehow snapped out of it. Maybe summer and no need to get up so early for school? I also have depression and seasonal depression in winter. My husband worries about me being a hoarder. I cannot get rid of paper. I write notes on anything I can find, then I can’t find the notes later of course. I also love to learn and have a thing for information, which adds to the problem. When it comes to being clean, I am a neat freak, but when it comes to the hoarding….I don’t know how to deal with it, so things get worse, instead of organized (I can’t cope so it gets left alone). Part of the hoarding, I wonder, if it has some roots in being the child of a young divorced mother who received no child support. I feel I need to buy things cheap because we will need them, then I do not want to get rid of them until I’m absolutely sure I won’t need it again. It also comes to play in getting rid of things that could be useful, but I don’t know who could use them, and I don’t want to throw in the trash. We have 5 children. Growing up there was just my mom and me. I feel I need to have enough food saved up for the instance we have no money or job. I think it’s worse that I’ve been a stay at home mom and no income of my own. I have some buckets of wheat and oatmeal, flour, etc. as well as canned foods…but no good place to keep them – but don’t have enough for very long term sustenance for such a large family. It’s a vicious cycle. If I start to sort papers, magazines, notes…I end up having to read them all to find what’s important so I don’t toss something I need. I lose mail inside stacks of junk mail and newspapers…you get the idea. I am the queen of stacks. The rule is “don’t touch mom’s papers” because then I can’t find what I need. If I have to move things to clear the kitchen table or coffee table for company, well, I may never find something for a LONG time because now I don’t know where the new “home” ended up. When I DO try to really organize and take the time and energy to sort and make a permanent home, I am OCD in that I need it to be the “right” way or I will never find it again. I have an “out of sight, out of mind problem”. I also think I have adult attention deficit. When I focus, I don’t want to stop to even feed myself or kids because I’m “on a roll” and being interrupted makes me really lose my place and how I had things organized before getting them to a “permanent home” Some days I would love to have the problem of NOT being able to keep things because it would help me rid myself of the clutter. I totally see your point. It is obsessive for sure to not be able to keep things. It’s just not obvious to others that there is a problem. When I walk into a really organized empty place I think “Does anyone really live here? How do they deal with their mail, there is no magazine or book out anywhere?” I actually think to myself many times and wonder if they have an obsession as well, but theirs is the very extreme clean and empty, while mine is holding onto things and not knowing what to do with it all. Unlike the “hoarders” shows, I do not live in complete filth and I do realize there is a problem, but I feel overwhelmed and can’t deal with it, so I procrastinate, which makes matters worse. I’d like to use TryNeatToday.com (scanning for my papers), but I worry I’d have no control over where things go and how to find them later. So far I have started to at least use EverNote.com free version for some things. It will find text in images which is nice. Some day I’ll pay and upgrade my Windows so I can use OneNote and sync between multiple computers if I find note programs help me at least find notes I take but don’t want to see in a pile or will never be able to find in various paper notebooks. I am definitely obsessive, but throw up my hands with the not knowing of how to deal with the accumulation and organization.

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