For me that day came about two months into the pandemic, when the first words out of my toddler’s mouth when she woke up were, “What’s coming in the mail today?” We haven’t been buying that much, I thought. Suddenly you might look around and wonder where it all came from. Thanks to online shopping and targeted ads on social media, it doesn’t take many of us too long to accumulate stuff. doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2016.01.If you could really use some decluttering tips, welcome to the club. Treating hoarding disorder in a real-world setting: Results from the Mental Health Association of San Francisco. Immediate rewards predict adherence to long-term goals. Impact of feng shui bedrooms on self-assessed sleep and well-being: A randomized double-blind field research with instrumental biocommunication. Prevalence of hoarding disorder among primary care patients. A case of clutter and chaos: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder confounding hoarding. Effectiveness of a 'Workshop on Decluttering and Organising' programme for teens and middle-aged adults with difficulty decluttering: a study protocol of an open-label, randomised, parallel-group, superiority trial in Japan.

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. doi:10.1111/pcn.12853Īmerican Psychiatric Association (APA). Pathophysiology and treatment of hoarding disorder. An exploratory study on the lived experiences of hoarding in Singapore. Subramaniam M, Jeyagurunathan A, Devi F, et al. The dark side of home: Assessing possession ‘clutter’ on subjective well-being. Facial expression, size, and clutter: Inferences from movie structure to emotion judgments and back. Delaying disposing: Examining the relationship between procrastination and clutter across generations. The causal effect of household chaos on stress and caregiving: An experimental study.

No place like home: Home tours correlate with daily patterns of mood and cortisol. Interactions of top-down and bottom-up mechanisms in human visual cortex. People's possessions, even if they don't use them, often bring a sense of safety and security that can be painful to let go of. They find comfort in their possessions: It wouldn't be so hard to get rid of things if material items didn't benefit people somehow.Also, being unable to get something back once they get rid of it can be scary. They're afraid to let things go: People are often afraid of feeling guilty about throwing things away (especially, as mentioned, if the object has sentimental value).If a loved one passed away, throwing away their possessions is often hard.

Objects have sentimental value: People keep objects from childhood that they associate with fond memories.However, keeping objects that remind you of your goals doesn't make you closer to achieving what you want. They hang on to old brochures for cruises because they want to travel. Objects remind them of important things: People keep clothes that don't fit anymore because they hope to lose weight.In the short term, it feels easier to keep things the same. They feel overwhelmed: It's often a huge job to get rid of things, which can be physically and mentally exhausting.

Extreme decluttering