Why is the media so obsessed with OCD when it comes to 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, messy, and a general health and safety hazard. They couldn’t be further from the definition of obsessive-compulsive disorder if they tried.
Do hoarders have the obsessions and compulsions that are so integral to OCD, or is their hoarding silly? Most hoarders will tell you they don’t even know how their hoarding got out of hand. Is that the meticulous attitude of someone with OCD? I do not think! It is a mystery how hoarding came to be labeled 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 have no other symptoms related to OCD. 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 symptoms of OCD. All of these data support the separation of hoarding from OCD.”
Isn’t it time we debunked the myth of hoarding and instead gave recognition to the opposite of hoarding, obsessive compulsive spartanism, a real and distressing version of OCD that deserves to be recognized? Obsessive Compulsive Spartans truly obsess over their space and stuff, organizing, counting, arranging, rearranging, and purging, constantly feeling messy even though they live in minimalist, Spartan conditions. Obsessive Compulsive Spartans are so strict about what goes in and what stays in their home that it causes great distress and/or disruption to daily life.
Unfortunately, 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, though, it looks like hoarding will be classified as a separate disease in the 2013 edition of DSM V.
It is very important to note that Obsessive Compulsive Spartanism has NOTHING to do with OCD contamination (cleanliness, hand washing, etc.). And that, like cleaning and checking, obsessive-compulsive spartanism can stand alone and cause a lot of distress as it stands.
I would suggest that obsessive-compulsive Spartanism manifests as follows:
1) You need to have minimal things in your house.
2) You need to have specific numbers for everything in your home.
3) Everything must fit into a category, or you can’t have one 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 pestering the neighbor to lend me theirs. I know I’m about to miss my flight, but I can’t leave the house until I’m happy 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 probably many patients silently struggling and wishing they had other, more famous OCD symptoms, just so they wouldn’t feel so weird and only. Some unlucky souls probably have no idea that they have OCD and that treatment is available, just like it is for other OCD sufferers.
The hoarders have recognition of their suffering, the obsessive-compulsive Spartans do not. It may be a lot less interesting or scandalous than hoarding, but it’s torture, as only an OCD sufferer can know.
Think about it. there are:
TOC contamination
Verification
organize
counting
Hoarding!!!
Scrupulous (religious OCD)
HOCD
sexual OCD
PureO
pinch the skin
Everyone’s pain is recognized, except that of the obsessive-compulsive Spartans! If you have a phobia of clutter, this should infuriate you and you want to raise awareness of this type of torment.
Time to get out of some very neat closets…