The desire for order and cleanliness is not the worst trait, is it? We usually perceive neat people as good organizers and equally effective performers. What psychological triggers hide behind the need to blow off dust particles and put everything in order?
We are talking about neat people – people who take undisguised pleasure in cleaning, and push those who do not share their love for shiny surfaces. And yet, taken to an extreme, this passion becomes the main symptom of obsessive-compulsive disorder, or obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). So why do some of us really need order so much?
Perfectionist complex
“Perfectionism and the desire for order go hand in hand.1 », according to psychologists Martin Anthony and Richard Swinson. Perfectionists perceive cleanliness as one of life’s most difficult challenges. Since 100% purity can only be achieved in a sterilizer, they are ready to storm this goal again and again. Moreover, the result (albeit temporary) is noticeable immediately.
Severe anxiety, or clatterophobia
There are many anxious people among the neat people. By putting things in order, they feel they are regaining control of their lives and emotions. Fear of mess, or clutterophobia, may have a genetic basis, as cleanliness was once a major survival advantage in an environment where antibiotics had not yet been invented, says psychotherapist Tom Corboy, director of the Center for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders in Los Angeles. The problem is that today this anxiety can arise for the most insignificant reasons.
“An unbridled desire for order and a thirst for control are characteristic of people who grew up in an unstable environment,” says biologist and author of books on the psychology of risk Glen Croston. For example, one of the parents was constantly absent or abused alcohol, the family experienced serious financial problems, the house was constantly dirty and not cleaned. A child could try to win back at least some island of order, and the washed sink in the kitchen in this case became a stronghold of illusory stability.
Striving to be good
It is no coincidence that purification rituals occupy such a large place in all world religions. Adherence to religious and social norms, conscientiousness, integrity are characteristic of neat people. “Neat people tend to see themselves as conscientious and responsible. They think before they act. This is how we envision the ideal air traffic controllers,” explains University of Texas at Austin psychology professor Sam Gosling, bestselling author of The Curious Eye: What Your Stuff Tells.2. However, his own research found that for all their outward decency, neat people are not more empathic or kind than those who scatter things.
Author of The Perfect Mess3 David Friedman is convinced that by wanting to be right and blocking all unwanted impulses with the same care that they put in order, neat people are setting themselves in a trap.
First, too “ideal” environment leaves no room for creativity. “You’ve ruled out everything wrong—you’re never late, you rarely spill or break anything, but you rarely get lucky either,” he writes. A cluttered table, an untidy kitchen is a trademark of famous scientists and talented chefs. It is in chaos, in the fullness of their emotions, “bad” and “good”, that they are free to fully explore and create.
Secondly, the pedants spend as much time, if not more, on maintaining order than the “sluts” on finding keys and other necessary things. “I meet hundreds of people who tell me about their obsession with order. And they all admit that it makes them uncomfortable. Neat people simply cannot live otherwise: they are prisoners of their habits, ”he sums up.
1 M. Antony, R. Swinson «When Perfect Isn’t Good Enough: Strategies for Coping with Perfectionism» (New Harbinger Pubns Inc, 1998).
2 S. Gosling «Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You» (Profile Books, 2009).
3 D. Freedman «A Perfect Mess: The Hidden Benefits of Disorder: How Crammed Closets, Cluttered Offices, and On-the-Fly Planning Make the World a Better Place» (Back Bay Books, 2008).