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.
Often, when depressed, you might see everything as overwhelming. Cleaning your room can feel like a daunting and impossible task. Feeling overwhelmed is a symptom of depression, which can make any activity feel like it is “too much.”
Diogenes syndrome is a behavioral-health condition characterized by poor personal hygiene, hoarding, and unkempt living conditions. It is most common in older men and women, which is why it is also called senile squalor syndrome.
A sense of despair, sadness, and hopelessness often comes with depression. As a result, teens may feel that there's no reason to expend effort to keep their personal space neat and organized. Disregarding personal grooming and cleanliness is a common symptom of depression.
If you are living with a mental health condition that makes it difficult for you to maintain a clean, organized home, or if you are experiencing stress, anxiety, or depression symptoms that persist despite your best efforts to manage them, you may benefit from reaching out to a mental health professional.
One of the most common problems as to why you get so stressed out about cleaning is that you think that the cleanliness levels of your homes directly correlate to you as a person. The cleaner the house, the better person you are. Either that, or you compare cleaning with care.
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.
Psychology says that messiness can indeed be a sign that a person is having trouble. Just like someone who is suffering from OCD and has to control everything, being a messy person might show that they are dealing with depression or some other mental illness.
Sometimes, living with anxiety, depression, or stress brings on clutter. If you're overwhelmed by sadness or other negative emotions, you might not have the energy to clean and organize. Or, you might use shopping or accumulating things to manage your feelings.
Sometimes, a messy house can be a sign of hoarding disorder. Hoarding disorder is a mental health condition that causes people to accumulate an excessive amount of things with no real value. Some experts think it's related to obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), while others say it's related to dementia.
Self-neglect – aka the inability or reluctance to take care of oneself – is a common sign of depression and other forms of mental illness, and can extend to obvious body odour, poor oral hygiene, or a person regularly wearing unwashed clothes.
It is not uncommon for individuals that struggle with depression to have a messy room. It often stems from having a lack of energy to clean the space, but the person may also feel guilty that they have a messy room. Learning to take baby steps can help you begin to clean your space and help you feel better.
Clutter bombards our minds with excessive stimuli (visual, olfactory, tactile), causing our senses to work overtime on stimuli that aren't necessary or important. Clutter distracts us by drawing our attention away from what our focus should be on. Clutter makes it more difficult to relax, both physically and mentally.
This is a messy and disorganized room or home as a result of experiencing depression. It is an outward display of a depressed mental state.
If you feel overwhelmed when cleaning, maybe you just have too much stuff to organize. One of the biggest lessons I have learned is that you cannot welcome new things into your life if you don't release some of the old stuff. You need to begin to purge things from your life.
Straighten Up in Spurts
If it's hard to concentrate on one task, such as folding laundry or washing dishes, all the way to completion, try doing it in increments. One of the easiest cleaning tips is to set a timer for 15 minutes, and stay on task until it goes off. If you think you can keep going, reset the timer.
Extreme messiness – with the emphasis on extreme – can be a sign of mental health issues. Excessively cluttered rooms can be a sign that a teen is developing depression, struggling with ADHD, or experiencing other emotional, psychological, or behavioral problems.
“A clutter-free environment might suggest someone who is not able to tolerate the untidiness or uncertainty inherent in life and relationships.”
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.
How messy or tidy you're feeling can also correlate with your mental health. Some people may use tidying as a stress reliever, while for others it slips off while they're stressed. Life traumas (such as divorce or death of a loved one), transitions (such as having a baby), or illness can cause a person to backslide.
Diogenes syndrome is when a person does not take care of themselves or their surroundings, leading to poor hygiene and possibly some health and social problems. It often occurs with other conditions, such as dementia. People with the condition often show signs of severe self-neglect, social isolation, and hoarding.