OCD & Hoarding
 

I'm a horrible hoarder and compulsive organizer, but I have hoarded too much stuff to organise and it's making me more anxious than ever. Has anyone found any tricks to getting over having to have things in PERFECT order and not hoarding so much stuff? ...and by perfect order, an example would be my closet: things are in order by: colour, weight, type of clothing (shirts, blouses, etc.), ABC order by brand, collar and sleeve length, and probably more that i can't think of right now. It takes me literally probably ten times the amount of time to organize anything than a normal person so with so much stuff hoarded, I have a cycle of getting anxious and attempting to clean/organize, then getting frustrated because it seems endless because it takes me SO long, getting exhausted, then anxious all over again and repeating. ANY tricks would be helpful and appreciated.

Hi Menna, I have recovered from anxiety. You are hoarding because you don't feel secure? I would suggest working on feeling more secure in your life? I have walked this route and would love to share....

hoarding
 

I have just joined this site - very interested in your sharing - I have a teenage daughter who appears to be suffering from OCD and Hoarding. She goes around the whole house putting everything away out of sight, lining up ornaments/articles etc., but keeps adding useless "stuff" in her bedroom - absolutely everything goes in there now, including numerous empty bottles, bags, etc. etc. She has to constantly reorganize all this "stuff". She becomes angry when I bring this to her attention (made mistake of throwing out some empty bottles once and she was hysterical). Hate to see this condition become worse but don't know how to help her.

Hi meg444,
Welcome to Neurotalk!

Here are a couple of links that have information in them that might help you help your daughter.

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread1395.html
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/showthread.php?t=7270

e.g.

http://www.worrywisekids.org/index.html

http://psychcentral.com/lib/2006/whe...sive-disorder/

Can you bear to part with some things?

share away. I could use the advice.

i often have hard time parting with some things like clothes ,bags etc.even i dont use them anymore i just find it hard to throw them away .and i think sharing away is a good idea....:)