Cleanliness is an enjoyable feature of the home and workplace, yet sometimes cleanliness becomes a source of prolonged suffering for the person who experience anxiety when household chores are not done your way or when you notice that a decorative object is not in the intended place. In these cases, the obsession with cleanliness becomes a source of suffering for those who, through this external order, you want to have everything under control (there is a constant relationship between the external and the internal). How to overcome the obsession with cleanliness? In Psychology-Online we give you ideas.
Before telling you how to overcome the obsession with cleanliness, it is important that learn to spot the signs of this obsession. This type of circumstance affects women more than men since, traditionally, they have been conditioned by this role of caring for the home.
1. Cleaning routine takes up more and more space in your life
In this way, this influences in a negative way not only the level of fatigue that the person accumulates since, to the housework itself, it adds professional commitments. In addition, this fact also conditions his own social life and her free time.
2. Perfectionism
A person who observes reality from the filter of obsession with order experiences a perfectionism insane since he always observes points to improve that make the work carried out in these tasks always in progress. There is always something pending to do or something to fix.
3. Conditioned well-being
The person may experience a certain level of well-being when he observes that the different rooms of the house are in the expected order, however, this well-being is getting shorter and shorter. The episodes of anger, frustration and disappointment weigh more because the person is totally subdued by this circumstance. That is, he is not capable of relativizing disorder at a certain moment and feels that his happiness depends on this issue.
4. Family tensions
When a person experiences this fixation with order, this fact negatively interferes with his own coexistence with others since he wants to impose his criteria. The others feel immersed in a constant examination. But, in turn, the person does not delegate responsibilities to others because he does not trust that they can do it well. And if he delegates at first, then he goes over the task.
5. Exaggerated thoughts
This issue conditions the life of the affected person in such a negative way that they experience recurring thoughts around how clutter can negatively affect you or have undesirable consequences. They are thoughts that have a dramatic tone and that, in turn, generate incomprehension in the environment that tends to relativize this matter.
What can a person with a clean obsession do to overcome this discomfort? Here are some great tips to help you get over your cleaning obsession. Pay attention!
- Professional Help. The risk of this type of case is that, sometimes, the person normalizes the situation by considering that the purpose of the cleaning is positive. And it is true. However, what differentiates a normal desire from an obsession is the degree to which this fact occurs and, also, who is in control of the situation (whether the person or the obsession). This is one of the reasons why it is highly recommended that the person conditioned by this issue decides to seek therapeutic help.
- ANDl closest environment The person concerned should avoid feeding the force of her fears by constantly giving in to their requests, commands, and suggestions. It often happens that, to avoid arguments, others prefer to delegate cleaning tasks to the person affected by this obsession. However, this only makes the situation worse.
- From the identification of the cause that is at the origin of this discomfort, the person acquires a greater inner freedom to give new answers to this circumstance. Identify what types of thoughts are those that come to mind when you experience an episode of anxiety due to a cause associated with cleaning. You can put those ideas in writing. Until now, when those thoughts came to your mind, it is very possible that your response was to start cleaning and tidying up. For this reason, to break this negative circle, from now on, it is recommended that you establish a schedule of tasks from home, with a realistic time for each activity, and make a different decision when these ideas come back to you. mind. For example, you can go for a walk to distract yourself. In this way, you gain strength in the face of those thoughts that, until now, have conditioned you so much.
- Ask for help from your environment. Having an emotional support network can be very important to you. For example, think about who you would like your support people to be in crisis situations. You can get in touch with that friend by phone at that moment when obsessive thoughts overwhelm you.
- Enrich leisure time. When the person has dedicated so much time of his life to cleaning, her free time has taken a back seat. This is a good time to reconnect with old interests and discover new ones. That is, you experience new reasons for satisfaction.
This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
