Behavioral/psychological: Clutter caused by depression, attention deficit disorder, low self-esteem or lack of personal boundaries.
A Cluttered Home Can Be a Result of a Major Life Event
Our overall health, energy level, and emotional stability all play an integral part in how much we can manage on a daily basis. If any of these three are compromised, our ability to be productive and efficient is significantly reduced.
A messy space could indicate creativity or someone who is too busy but a messy space could also indicate further issues like anxiety or ADHD. Clutter and mess can consciously or unconsciously affect you mentally,' warns Jamie Hord, CEO, and founder of Horderly Professional Organizing.
Clutter can affect our anxiety levels, sleep, and ability to focus. It can also make us less productive, triggering coping and avoidance strategies that make us more likely to snack on junk and watch TV shows (including ones about other people decluttering their lives).
In most cases, this clutter is directly linked to traumatic events. Clutter could stem from the fear of letting go. This would be especially the case if a person grew up during or shortly after a time of war when people did not have much and had to use everything they had until it fell apart.
If you don't clean your house, it might mean you are busy and have little time to clean and organize. It might be a sign that you have too much stuff. Or it might be the result of having young kids in the house who are usually not motivated to clean up after themselves.
Excessive clutter and disorganization are often symptoms of a bigger health problem. People who have suffered an emotional trauma or a brain injury often find housecleaning an insurmountable task.
Psychologically, a messy room can represent:
A disorganized mind. Feeling overwhelmed. Difficulty letting go (common for hoarding behaviors) Trouble focusing on a task. A “nothing matters” attitude (which can also include poor hygiene and a disheveled appearance)
Clutter and mess can create more stress and anxiety, but by cleaning, organizing, and reducing the clutter, people are able to take control of their environment and create a more relaxing environment that helps them focus better on the more pressing issues in their lives.
People with depression can often find themselves living in messy spaces. This is because feelings of hopelessness, low energy, and lack of motivation can make it hard to keep on top of everyday tasks, such as tidying.
So why is it so common for people to find themselves burdened by clutter? “It's a one-two punch of over-acquiring, buying because we think the stuff will fix us and then not being able to let go because we've created an attachment (emotional, sentimental or economical) to our stuff,” McCubbin says.
Clutter can trigger the release of the stress hormone cortisol, which can increase tension and anxiety and lead to unhealthy habits. Cortisol is a hormone produced in response to stress by the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA).
One of the biggest reasons people hold onto clutter is inertia. You think you'll use the item one day but you don't know how to get rid of things you never end up using. It can feel overwhelming to tackle clutter.
A hoarding disorder is where someone acquires an excessive number of items and stores them in a chaotic manner, usually resulting in unmanageable amounts of clutter. The items can be of little or no monetary value.
However, teens with messy rooms, particularly if the messiness is extreme, may be struggling with a mental health disorder, such as anxiety or ADHD. In some cases, when a teenager has a messy room, depression may be the underlying issue.
A messy room can also be a sign that you have depression.
If you're feeling a little less than hopeful, you might have a hard time understanding why you should even bother to clean up or organize things since, from where you're standing, everything seems to be going wrong anyway.
“Cluttering is another behavior typical in folks with ADHD. Leaving items out as visual cues is a common way of compensating for an unreliable memory or inadequate time-management system, but to the untrained eye it can resemble hoarding,” she says.
When one is exposed to trauma, people build guards around themselves and everything around them. If they start losing the stuff or declutter, they feel a void inside of them, so it's tougher for them than other people. Clutter acts as an unconscious barrier.
A person with symptoms of ADHD may be untidy or live in a cluttered home because they are unable to organise their things whereas a hoarder will have a specific reason why they can't let go of something they own.
Real-life and many studies show that messiness is actually a very common personality trait. In some cases, people are simply uninterested in cleaning up the mess they are living in. The fact that they are not bothered by it is a sign they simply got used to living that way.
You may find your messiness is a result of your depression, lack of self-love, low energy, feelings of stress, or anxiety. Messiness can also be a sign of an underlying problem such as ADHD or bipolar disorder.
Getting sick and unhealthy
Here are some reasons why not cleaning enough can make you unhealthy: Polluted air vents and untidy filters can contaminate the air. Soiled sheets and bedding can cause skin rashes and irritations. Dust mites can trigger allergies, asthma, and other respiratory issues.