NYT: ‘Depression Rooms’ and ‘Doom Piles’: Why Clearing the Clutter Can Feel Impossible

Corinthian
Wed, 11 Jan 2023 14:18:09 +0000

I think this article contains helpful tips and strategies for approaching the issue of clearing up excess clutter. OTOH, I found this framing of the issue unsatisfactory:

The clutter that can accumulate when people are experiencing a mental health crisis is neither a form of hoarding, nor the result of laziness. The culprit is extreme fatigue, said N. Brad Schmidt, a distinguished research professor of psychology at Florida State University.

This is written in a way that suggests that hoarding is not something that occurs due to a mental health crisis. It sounds like Schmidt is lumping together hoarding with laziness and distinguishing them somehow from other forms of clutter. “Extreme fatigue” comes off sounding like a more sympathetic explanation that hoarding/laziness. But I was certainly under the impression that hoarding is driven by mental health issues, whether it’s anxiety, OCD or depression or other mental health issues.

I liked the description of “decision fatigue.” My younger kid (now a senior in college) has always lived in piles and piles of clutter. I can see elements of anxiety and ADHD type decision fatigue behind his behavior. But those are more in the nature of chronic conditions that need to be managed versus a mental health “crisis.” Using the word “crisis” implies something more acute.

But again, I agree that the article contained helpful suggestions.