How to get rid of the mania for cleanliness. Purity disease: features, signs, description

From childhood, everyone is taught to have order and cleanliness. Cleanliness is a sign that a good housewife lives in the house. Ordinary house cleaning turns into a manic passion for sterility. Some wash their hands almost every 5 minutes with antibacterial soap and force others to adhere to the same hygiene rules.

Features of the disorder

There must be a golden mean in everything. If a cult of cleanliness reigns in a family, then in the future a person raised in such conditions may face two problems related to hygiene.

Sloppiness. Having escaped from the place where there was perfect order, a person relaxes and stops looking after the house; there is no one else to force him to clean his home.

Excessive maintenance of cleanliness in the house. The desire to be clean should not go beyond the limits: if people spend all day cleaning, wiping off dust, putting things in their places, this can lead to paranoid deviations. The painful desire for cleanliness is called a mania for cleanliness and order. This is more of a phobia. They are called:

mysophobia (fear of dirt);
germophobia (fear of infection).

The second type of phobia is mainly common. People have a panicky fear of infection, they try to avoid contact with others: even after a regular handshake, they try to wash their hands or treat them with an antiseptic as quickly as possible.

Frequent hand washing causes irritation and flaking of the skin, which can lead to eczema or other skin conditions.

Germophobes are usually withdrawn, and as a result they develop other neurological problems.

Causes

Any habit or action does not arise out of nowhere; there is always a basis that served as an impetus for the development of the problem. The reasons may be as follows:

Fear of dirt and germs – ripophobia.
Stress that occurs for various reasons.
Housework can distract a person from bad thoughts. Every time problems arise, he starts cleaning the house.
Diffidence. Putting things in order in the house, putting things in their places - all this creates the illusion of control over your life. This happens to those people for whom things outside the home are not going as smoothly as they would like. This behavior is typical of soft and weak-willed people.
Mental problems - neurosis, obsessive-compulsive disorder, psychosis.
Heredity. The cause is observed in 60% of people suffering from this disorder.
Serious illnesses, infections, kidney dysfunction - all this leads to intoxication of the body.
Many women have developed a mania for cleanliness and order for the reason that men value such zeal for cleanliness.
Increased instinct of self-preservation. Such people see dirt everywhere.
Autonomic nervous system disorder.

Behavior correction

If you are afraid of germs, you are haunted by a constant desire to clean the house, then use the following methods to combat the phobia:

If you're worried about getting your hands dirty, touch the doorknob and don't wash your hands afterwards.
Train yourself to clean the house once a week.
Take the bed linen and throw it on the floor, after a while put it back, sleep on this linen for a week without washing it.
Learn relaxation techniques. Find yourself a hobby.
Psychoanalysis. The goal of the psychotherapist is to identify the traumatic situation and displace it from the patient’s life.
Hypnosuggestive therapy is a combination of hypnosis and suggestion. The patient is put into hypnosis and the correct behavior patterns are suggested.
Group therapy. In a group format, it is easier for people to cope with their problem, because they are united by the desire to overcome obsessive states collectively.

Therapists provide treatment using obsessive-compulsive disorder techniques.

Conclusion

Every day a lot of dust and dirt collects in the house. Many people don’t care much about this, and they clean it literally once a week. At the same time, they sleep peacefully, and they can even leave the house, leaving the dishes in the sink. But there are also some individuals who are horrified by a crookedly hung towel, not to mention moved cups or a small spot on the table. Most often, this behavior is not associated with mental disorder. But sometimes pathological cleanliness can mean a real health problem, or even cause one.

What does craving for cleanliness mean?

If a stain causes an obsessive desire to wipe it away right away, and the cleaning process takes all day, not because the house is dirty, but because you want to clean it, then these are most likely signs of OCD - obsessive-compulsive disorder. In this case, a person suffers from compulsions - obsessive desires that arise contrary to reason, will and feelings. The patient's obsessive rituals manifest themselves in the repetition of certain meaningless behaviors (for example, washing hands 20 times a day, or constantly wiping the same place on the table because there was a stain there before). These actions are associated with obsessive thoughts that arise against the will and prompt a person to act. For example, someone who washes their hands is trying to avoid infection.

Obsessive ideas of pollution - mysophobia - are also a manifestation of OCD. The fear of pollution haunts such people constantly; they are afraid that harmful and toxic substances will enter their body and they will die (germaphobia). Often the fear of contamination is only limited in nature, manifesting itself only in some minor compulsions, such as frequently changing linen or washing the floors every day. This kind of behavior is assessed by others only as habits, and they are not destructive in human life.

In particularly severe cases, OCD can trigger the development of other phobias, such as fear of crowds in public places, fear of heights, fear of water, and other fears.

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Types of cleanliness

There are different types of clean people. From OCD sufferers who, like Nicolas Cage's character in A Splendid Hustle, are not allowed to walk on the carpet in shoes and scrub their apartment to the point of insanity, asking the psychiatrist for pills that reduce the desire for cleanliness, to those who ignore the mess in the house all week , but on weekends or once a month, she takes a rag and washes everything until it shines.

Unlike pathological Cinderellas, such characters love cleanliness extremely selectively. Such a person will not sleep if he knows that there are things lying around in the room, and the floor is already covered in stains, but at the same time he can clutter the pantry or closet. For example, they will rip out the floor in the entire apartment, but at the same time they will calmly eat in bed. Such people have their own “indicators of cleanliness” - a clean stove or bathtub, order on the table or dishes displayed in a certain way.

But there are those who simply ignore the disorder. It doesn’t matter to them whether the floor is clean, the floor is dirty, the bathroom is white or covered with mold, the dishes are white, the dishes are black... Life is already so good that one would worry about such little things. Pathological Cinderellas throw lightning bolts and call them slobs, and psychologists call them simply indifferent.

Does cleanliness contribute to the development of diseases?

An excessive desire for cleanliness can not only be a sign of a mental disorder, but also contribute to the development of other diseases. According to scientists from Cambridge, it can cause Alzheimer's disease (a form of dementia). Dr. Molly Fox and her colleagues believe that the disappearance of microbes from a person's life leads to disruption of the immune system, which in turn leads to the development of autoimmune diseases. The inflammatory processes of Alzheimer's disease are similar to the autoimmune disease, so Fox suggests that the conditions for the occurrence of these diseases are the same. In particular, according to the results of their study, in developed countries, where the risk of contracting infections is much lower, there are 10% more Alzheimer's patients than in underdeveloped countries.

Other experts have concluded that changes in our microflora (that is, the result of reduced contact with microbes in this case) affect the development of depression, and also increase the risk of developing inflammatory diseases and cancer.

Bronchial asthma also often manifests itself due to the use of different detergents during the cleaning process. Therefore, women are more likely to get this disease (and die from it more often) than men.

Cleaning as therapy

There is nothing wrong with a healthy desire for order and cleanliness. Cleaning can lift your mood and improve your mental well-being. Firstly, cleaning (like cooking for some) helps to throw out negative emotions. Bad day? They came, cleaned the apartment, and you felt better. By moving furniture, a person structures thoughts at a visual level, thereby stimulating thinking. By changing something in the house, you feel like you are the master of your life and are in control of the situation. And this is a very important feeling for every person.

Is mania for cleanliness and order a problem?

According to psychologists, excessive commitment to cleanliness is a consequence of complexes and lack of self-confidence. By making the inner world of his home orderly, a person protects himself from the outer world, in which he feels uncomfortable. But, trying to maintain perfect order in the house, people often lose contact with their relatives, as this irritates many. Yes, and clean people go crazy because others don’t care whether things are scattered around the house or not. To find the roots of the problem, you need to work with a psychologist.

Otherwise, try to understand those Cinderellas for whom order is of great importance. Just help them clean and keep the house clean, thus strengthening your relationship.

The desire for cleanliness in one’s home has always been considered a positive trait, but if a person is literally obsessed with perfect order and strives to sterilize and disinfect everything possible, then experts say that this is already a mental illness called ripophobia. An individual suffering from this phobia is constantly afraid of various contaminations and prefers not to touch objects around him, especially outside the home. Ripophobia is often observed among housewives, when the obsessive desire for ideal cleanliness turns into a fix idea.

A person suffering from rhypophobia constantly washes their hands, fearing that pathogens and dirt will accumulate on them. But in reality, psychologists say that at such moments the patient does not think about possible infections; the factor of washed hands is important for him. This action calms him down somewhat, although for a fairly short time. The desire to avoid contact with foreign objects is so great that a ripophobe tries, if possible, not to leave his apartment in order to limit as much as possible the need to touch various foreign things.

It is also reliably known that basically all ripophobes know that there are also beneficial bacteria that are simply necessary for a person to digest food, and not just salmonellosis and E. coli. However, a person suffering from rhypophobia always overestimates the significance of the negative impact of various microorganisms, and is sure that they are dangerous under any potential impact. Ripophobia is a common symptom of anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder, which is associated with violent actions and unwanted thoughts. In some cases, rhypophobia is associated with hypochondria - when there is a strong fear of contracting some kind of infection. In most cases, ripophobia is considered as a specific phobia.

Causes of ripophobia

Basically, this attitude towards the environment and excessive fear of dirt and germs is formed in childhood, and the child’s parents play a significant role in this. Of course, teaching cleanliness is an integral part of education, but sometimes parents put too much emphasis on the child’s attention in this area, making him afraid to touch other people’s toys, books, etc. Ultimately, the unstable child’s psyche begins to malfunction, and the baby learns only one thing – there are bacteria, dirt and danger all around.

Also, the cause of ripophobia is often a negative individual experience gained in adulthood, as a consequence of a certain traumatic event associated with pollution and dust. Sometimes it is not even necessary to have your own negative experience, it is enough to just know that someone you know has had serious problems associated with lack of cleanliness and germs.

Many psychologists believe that the sharp increase in rhypophobia observed at the end of the twentieth century is often caused by people's concern about such serious diseases as AIDS. Ripophobia is known to be very widespread in America. There, people are increasingly using portable subway belts, purchasing huge quantities of disinfectants, and paying great attention to the hygienic processing of food.

This may be due to the following phobias:

Amatophobia - fear of dust

Bromohydrophobia (autodisomophobia, bromidrosiphobia) - fear of one’s own smell, sweating

Bromidrosiphobia - fear of body odors

Dermatopathophobia - fear of developing a skin disease

Mesophobia - obsessive fear of infection, infection and subsequent illness

Mysophobia - fear of pollution

Microphobia - fear of germs

Original source More details link And link .

obsessive-compulsive disorder is a syndrome

Only this is not a disease, but a state of mind when it is impossible to live in peace if ideal order is not established. and not only in the apartment, but also in life, affairs, relationships and work.

short and clear - neat..))

Yesterday they said that this is sexual dissatisfaction!))

yes, there are women who rub everything, this is not a mental problem, just like everyone dirty or accumulates trash in their apartments

affective insanity

Damn, this is really a disease))

I’m also interested, at least I’ll find out what’s wrong with me)

I don’t know the disease, but the person is called a pedant

1). Ripophobic. People obsessed with cleanliness suffer from "repophobia".

2). A pedant is a person who is careful to the point of detail, strictly observing formal order.

3). Mysophobic. A person who has a fear of pollution or infection is called a mysophobe.

Mania for order: 3 possible psychological causes

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 are hidden behind the need to blow away dust particles and put everything on the shelves?

We're talking about neat people - people who take undisguised pleasure in cleaning things up and disparage those who don't share their love for shiny surfaces. And yet, taken to extremes, this passion becomes the main symptom of obsessional neurosis, or obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). So why do some of us really need order so much?

Perfectionist complex

“Perfectionism and a desire for order go hand in hand,” say psychologists Martin Anthony and Richard Swinson. Perfectionists perceive cleaning as one of life's difficult challenges. Since 100% purity can only be achieved in a sterilizer, they are ready to attack this goal again and again. Moreover, the result (albeit temporary) is noticeable immediately.

Severe anxiety, or clutterophobia

There are many anxious people among neat people. By putting things in order, they feel like they are regaining control over their lives and emotions. Fear of mess, or clutterophobia, may have a genetic basis, since cleanliness was once a major survival advantage in pre-antibiotic environments, says psychotherapist Tom Corboy, director of the Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Center in Los Angeles. The problem is that today this anxiety can arise for the most insignificant reasons.

“An unbridled passion for order and a thirst for control are characteristic of people who grew up in unstable environments,” 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 was experiencing serious financial problems, the house was constantly dirty and untidy. The child could try to win at least some island of order, and the washed kitchen sink 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, and integrity are characteristic of clean people. “Neat people tend to see themselves as conscientious and responsible. They think before they act. This is how we envision ideal air traffic controllers,” explains University of Texas at Austin psychology professor Sam Gosling, author of the bestselling book The Curious Eye: What Your Stuff Tells You. However, his research found that, despite all their outward decency, neat people are no more empathetic or kind than those who scatter things.

The author of The Perfect Mess 3, David Friedman, is convinced that by wanting to be correct and blocking all unwanted impulses with the same care with which they create order, tidy people are driving themselves into a trap.

Firstly, an environment that is too “ideal” does not leave room for creativity. “You've eliminated everything that's wrong—you're never late, you rarely spill or break anything, but you're also rarely lucky,” he writes. A cluttered table and an untidy kitchen are the trademarks 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, pedants spend the same amount of time, if not more, maintaining order as “slobs” spend searching for 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 any other way: they are prisoners of their habits,” he sums up.

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Obsession with cleanliness and cleaning

Obsessive-compulsive disorder is a process of constant recall of traumatic past events, thoughts or actions, uncontrollable by the individual. Characteristic for people who lack self-confidence. Changes that often occur that disrupt the patient’s usual activities are accompanied by painful experiences.

Obsessive-compulsive syndromes

There are two types of obsessive-compulsive disorder:

Distracted obsession, which includes:

Obsessive counting - a person counts everything he sees: steps, windows, buttons on the shirt of the person standing next to him. Various arithmetic operations with numbers can also be performed - addition, multiplication.
Obsessive thoughts (neurotic obsessions) - manifest themselves as thoughts of a negative nature that offend the moral essence of a person, which cannot be gotten rid of. They cause a constant feeling of anxiety and can even develop into a phobia.
Intrusive memories are events from the past of a negative nature that arise involuntarily in the form of vivid pictures.
Obsessive actions are automatic, uncontrolled movements that occur involuntarily. The patient does not notice these actions, but is able to stop by force of will. However, as soon as he is distracted, they will resume.

Imaginative obsession, which includes emotional experiences such as anxiety, emotional stress, fear.

Obsessiveness. Their clinical manifestations

The most common sign of obsessional neurosis is obsessions - obsessive thoughts of a negative nature. The patient is aware of his condition and tries to cope with the disease, but it is impossible to do this on his own.

Compulsions may occur, which may be hidden actions or thoughts.

With mild neurosis, outsiders may attribute the patient’s quirks to the person’s character traits; in severe conditions, this disorder means disability.

There are several paths of the disease:

Symptoms persist for several months or even years
With lulls and outbreaks provoked by stressful situations
Constant and steady progression of the disease

Personality characteristics in obsessive-compulsive neurosis

Obsessive-compulsive disorder occurs after 10 years of age and is most common during puberty. An assistant in the development of NNS are such personality traits as: anxious and suspicious - indecisiveness, anxiety, constant susceptibility to doubt, strong self-doubt, conservatism; anankasty - excessive caution and suspicion, rigidity, perfectionism, fixation on negative thoughts, the desire to do everything right. As neurosis progresses, personality disorders also develop.

Fears associated with obsessions are called phobias (a phobia is an irresistible strong fear that occurs even if the patient is aware of its groundlessness and meaninglessness). Therefore, NNS are divided into two groups:

Phobic neurosis - obsessive fears.
Obsessive action neurosis - obsessive movements and actions.

How to get rid of obsession

It is advisable to combine several approaches to quickly and effectively treat the patient.

To get rid of obsessive-compulsive disorder, the following are used:

Drug therapy - the use of antidepressants, tranquilizers, psychotropic drugs. In severe cases of the disease, the patient may remain in a psychiatric hospital.
Cognitive behavioral therapy is about bringing the patient face to face with his phobia in order to demonstrate how unfounded his fears are.
“Thought stopping” - used to treat obsessions and phobias.
Hypnosis.
Individual psychotherapy.
Autogenic training.
Game therapy.
Art therapy.

Obsession with cleanliness

Cleaning that is not fun and inconvenient for everyone is the most common phenomenon of cleanliness neurosis.

Neurosis of purity arises due to the impossibility of resolving a conflict situation or a constantly disturbing feeling. What distinguishes obsession from the usual desire to tidy up an apartment is that with such behavior a person begins to cause inconvenience to himself and others. The patient does not receive pleasure and household benefits from cleaning, since often already clean and put away things are put in order.

Cleanliness neurosis can manifest itself as:

Washing already clean objects, moving things that are in order from place to place, constant hand washing, long bath procedures, etc.
Cleaning at inappropriate times (a few minutes before guests arrive, during an argument).
Excessively long cleaning with the inability to stop.
The desire to put everything in its place and intolerance to the movement of things from their usual positions.

At the same time, a person does not receive pleasure from all of the above actions.

Cleanliness neurosis can occur due to:

Exaggerated desire to be perfect
Desires to forget some unpleasant events of the past
Aggression caused by the inability to express one’s emotions or opinion on something or someone else’s account
Trying not to think about very exciting events
Striving to put your inner world in order
Desires to compensate for their shortcomings of a sexual nature - imaginary or real - at the expense of their abilities in the household

In men, the obsession with cleanliness manifests itself somewhat differently from women: they begin to demand from their wives constant and unattainable cleanliness in the house. Neurosis can be caused by any unexperienced negative emotion.

People with:

Low self-esteem
Strong dependence on the opinions of others
Lack of confidence in yourself and your judgment
Certain stereotypes that developed in childhood
Constant exposure to stress
Excessive demands on yourself and others
A penchant for collecting

An uncontrollable desire for cleanliness is observed in patients not only in their own homes, but also when they visit other people's apartments. As a result, when visiting, this person either demands urgent cleaning from the owners of the house, experiencing serious discomfort due to the home not meeting his standards, or tolerates it, which leads to another unplanned cleaning of the house and excessive amounts of hand washing.

Symptoms of purity neurosis are directly proportional to the severity of a person’s internal experiences.

However, it is worth remembering that keeping the apartment clean and tidy, putting things in their places and organizing them is not necessarily a symptom of neurosis if all these actions give a person pleasure and do not take up most of his time.

Obsessive thoughts during VSD

VSD (vegetative-vascular dystonia) is a dysfunction of the human autonomic system. With this disease, the following types of neuroses may occur:

Neurasthenia is increased irritability of the body combined with general weakness and loss of strength, increased fatigue and, as a result, physical and mental exhaustion. Accompanied by depression, dizziness and severe headaches that interfere with mental and physical work.
Hysterical neurosis is a strong surge of emotions that occurs as a result of severe stress and is accompanied by convulsions, partial loss of sensitivity, transient paralysis, and loss of consciousness.
Phobic neurosis is a constant feeling of fear and anxiety, accompanied by a disruption in the functioning of the autonomic system, and resulting in social withdrawal. Also, as a result, panic attacks and phobias may occur.
Hypochondriacal neurosis is excessive preoccupation with one’s own health and, as a result, a constant feeling of anxiety and fear of getting sick. Such patients react sharply to any physical discomfort felt and immediately consult a doctor. They can invent symptoms for themselves and in most cases do not agree to take medications.
Obsessive-compulsive neurosis is involuntary thoughts and fears that cannot be eliminated.
Depressive neurosis is chronic fatigue, depression, loss of interest in life, in some cases accompanied by thoughts of suicide. Occurs due to unresolved traumatic situations.

Neurosis of obsessive movements in children. Treatment

Reviews of traditional methods of treating neuroses are very, very negative. So if parents really want to cure their child, they need to seek help from a doctor.

Obsessive movement neurosis is a disorder that occurs in children and adolescents and manifests itself in the form of a series of uncontrollable repetitive movements and a general disorder of ontogenesis.

Neurosis can manifest itself as:

Thumb sucking
Head turns
Grinding of teeth
Pinching any part of the body
Hand tremors
Hair curling

All these symptoms do not completely define neurosis and can only be a sign of growing up.

The main goal in the treatment of neuroses is to improve relationships in the patient’s family and correct his upbringing.

There are three areas of psychotherapy for childhood neuroses:

Family therapy - begins with a study of relationships and the situation in the family, then a clinical conversation with relatives is conducted, and after that joint therapy of children and parents. Contact is established with the child through play and words.

Rational therapy - after establishing contact with the child, the doctor explains the essence of his problem and, with the help of similar stories, they look for a way out of the disturbing situation.
Autogenic training.
Play therapy.
Art therapy.

These methods can be used in conjunction with special medications, physical therapy and reflexology to increase the effectiveness and speed of treatment of obsessiveness.

Stuttering. Emotional behavioral disorders in children

Stuttering is periodic muscle spasms, holding one's breath during speech, and repeating sounds that are independent of a person's will.

The causes of stuttering can be:

Stressful situation
Retraining left-handed people to become right-handed
Living with a family where two different languages are spoken
Premature speech development

There are two types of stuttering:

Neurosis-like - occurs at the age of 3-4 years. Often, mothers of such children experienced various pathologies during pregnancy. Patients are characterized by fearfulness, lack of self-confidence, restlessness, emotional instability, and developmental delays. Without treatment, stuttering progresses.
Neurotic - occurs between 2 and 6 years. Children start talking early and talk excitedly. The intensity of stuttering depends on the emotional state of the child. When alone, the baby can speak without stuttering. Such children are characterized by increased emotional excitability immediately before stuttering.

It is better to start treatment as early as possible.

To keep it clean and clean... - a desire for order or a symptom of neurosis?

There is nothing more unhygienic than life.

Aggressive feelings that arise from the inability to express emotions about some problematic situation or the belief that there is no one to discuss them with also lead to this “exit” in emergency cleaning. Unexpressed aggression towards other people is also connected to all this.

The desire to “protect” yourself from “bad” thoughts often occurs when you begin such “cleaning”, “washing” everything around you and yourself.

An overly vigilant attitude towards finding all objects “in their place”, an exaggerated desire to structure everything – is also a “bell” of neurosis. The house is sometimes called the “second body.” And the desire to put things in order in the house is a clear reflection of the desire to put your inner world in order. For such people, moving can be a real disaster with inevitable domestic chaos leading to increased internal chaos.

Purity neurosis can only be a partial manifestation of mental “problems.” But this should not be confused with the usual maintenance of cleanliness, the desire to set one’s boundaries, to save one’s space by maintaining the place of one’s things.

People with obsessive thoughts and a desire to repress them, who set strict limits for themselves and others are high on this list.

Who is not at risk? Psychologists say that these are people who are able to play at life and perceive themselves and everyone around them with all their advantages and disadvantages.

Does cleaning solve problems?

But, unfortunately, cleaning does not have the ability to relieve stress. On the contrary, such behavior can lead to the habit of repeating all this during any subsequent stressful condition.

Only partial relief can be brought by this activity at first, but not for long. After all, the problem itself is not resolved.

Center "ABC for Parents"

Comments

Dr MD | Posted: 09/15:26:57 Thank you, useful article.

Anastasia | Written: 10.06.:36:22 Thank you very much for the article. She helped to understand a lot and establish cause-and-effect relationships.

Let's talk about Cinderella syndrome

Most women are sure that cleanliness is the key to not only health, but also a happy life. But sometimes the desire for cleanliness turns into “Cinderella syndrome” and can cause the development of real phobias and neuroses. Most often, this disorder affects women aged 25 to 60 years, less often – young girls and men. Psychologists strongly advise you to avoid starting relationships with people who have perfect order at home, and if you notice similar symptoms in yourself, get rid of them as soon as possible. How can you determine when neatness and cleanliness turns into a real obsession that requires treatment from a psychologist?

Clean, clean, very clean?

The desire for cleanliness and order is an excellent character quality and is persistently instilled in all children, without exception. But, if the mania for cleanliness and order begins to interfere with normal life or turns into the main pastime, then it is necessary to understand what a person is so carefully trying to “clean” in his life and how this problem can be dealt with.

It is quite difficult to understand that cleanliness turns into mania, since this process occurs unnoticed and can continue for years. By what signs can one distinguish an obsession with cleanliness?

The perfectionist complex - Cinderella syndrome - manifests itself in the desire to restore ideal cleanliness. A person suffering from such a disorder is irritated and upset by everything: a plate that is not washed immediately after eating, towels hung out of line, or slightly dusty glass on the balcony. Cleanliness and order are restored until everything is perfect. Unfortunately, even with regular, daily, many-hour cleaning, it is not possible to achieve such a result - you constantly have to re-wash, put in place and clean. The life of a perfectionist is spent in an endless struggle with dust and clutter, as well as with the people around who refuse to participate in the endless cleaning.
Anxiety – clutter and dirt are not just disliked, they cause real stress and anxiety. Pathological cleanliness is often explained by an increased level of anxiety and the desire to gain control over the situation at least in this way. Cleanliness in the house turns into a kind of “fetish”, and cleaning becomes a way to cope with feelings of powerlessness and fear.
Aggressiveness and irritation - in a person suffering from such a phobia, the people around him usually cause sharp rejection and aggression. This is especially noticeable in family relationships - “Cinderella” spends countless amounts of time and effort on putting things in order, gets tired, and everyone else gradually turns into “enemies” who only litter, dirty everything around and refuse to participate in putting things in order. This provokes endless quarrels, showdowns and often becomes the reason for the destruction of a marriage or the deterioration of relations between parents and children.
Amount of time spent – cleaning the house should not take more than 10-20% of your free time. If most of your leisure time is spent on putting things in order, then you need to think about changing priorities or getting treatment for psychological addiction.
Fear of infections or germs - the fear of contracting certain diseases is present in everyone’s life, but sometimes the fear of infection turns into an obsession that forces people to wash their hands several hundred times a day, constantly wear a respirator, or treat food with antibiotics.
Limitation of contacts and social activity - due to fear of infection, reluctance to receive guests at home or visit someone themselves, people become socially inactive, prefer to spend most of their time at home and not communicate with others. This behavior and lifestyle leads to worsening psychological problems and increases the risk of developing neurosis or phobia.

Cause of occurrence

Why the mania for order and cleanliness arises is quite difficult to say. There are several theories about the development of a phobia of cleanliness:

Neurosis - anxiety and fear, arising from a variety of reasons, can find a “way out” precisely in the desire to tidy and clean. Stress and overwork often provoke the development of these pathologies.
Lack of self-confidence, childhood traumas - the desire to control everything around and lack of self-confidence also often becomes the reason for the development of mania for cleanliness. This especially affects those who grew up with overly authoritarian parents or in conditions of total control.
The subconscious desire to “clean up” - according to Freud, all our problems come from our subconscious. The desire for purity is explained by the desire to get rid of or cleanse oneself from any thoughts and actions.

Like any other, mania for cleanliness or “Cinderella syndrome” is a pathological condition that requires mandatory treatment. A person’s dependence on alcohol, cigarettes or order in the house is equally pathological and can cause enormous harm to his health and life. Therefore, if you notice symptoms of such a disorder in yourself or your loved ones, you need to seek the help of a specialist as soon as possible and begin to fight the mania for cleanliness.

How to deal with Cinderella syndrome

If the disease of clean hands has not yet developed into a pronounced pathology, you can try to cope with it yourself. To do this you need:

Realizing the problem is quite difficult, especially if it is not you who needs treatment, but someone close to you. A calm conversation with links to authoritative sources, a book or printed article from the Internet can help with this, and in the most severe cases, you can invite a professional psychologist for consultation.
Draw up a clear action plan - cleaning and putting things in order should under no circumstances disappear from a person’s life. But you need to strictly limit your time - make a plan for cleaning and other cleanliness activities and strictly follow it. So, you should not spend more than 10-20% of your free time on cleaning every day. This can range from 2 to 4 hours a day, depending on the amount of work and the number of free hours.
Learn to switch - no matter how irritating the dirt and scattered things are, you need to learn to switch your attention.

In addition to these simple rules, the following will help you cope with the desire for perfect cleanliness:

Exercise – Any physical activity helps reduce stress and tension. Walking, swimming, yoga, fitness and dancing are especially useful.
Hobbies - any hobby helps to cope with negative emotions, and also takes up time that was previously spent on cleaning.
Taking sedatives – herbal sedatives help cope with anxiety and fear, which means they remove the main reason for cleaning.
Psychotherapy is the most effective method of combating phobias. Only by learning to recognize the causes of the development of mental pathology can one cope with its manifestations.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder is an uncontrollable process of constantly remembering traumatic past events, thoughts or actions. Characteristic for people who lack self-confidence. Changes that often occur that disrupt the patient’s usual activities are accompanied by painful experiences.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder is typical for people who lack self-confidence

There are two types of obsessive-compulsive disorder:

Distracted obsession, which includes:

Obsessive counting- a person counts everything he sees: steps, windows, buttons on the shirt of the person standing next to him. Various arithmetic operations with numbers can also be performed - addition, multiplication.
Intrusive thoughts(neurotic obsessions) - manifest themselves as negative thoughts that offend the moral essence of a person, which cannot be gotten rid of. They cause a constant feeling of anxiety and can even develop into a phobia.
Intrusive memories- events from the past of a negative nature that arise involuntarily in the form of vivid pictures.
Obsessive actions- automatic, uncontrolled movements that occur involuntarily. The patient does not notice these actions, but is able to stop by force of will. However, as soon as he is distracted, they will resume.

Imaginative obsession, which includes emotional experiences such as anxiety, emotional stress, fear.

Obsessiveness. Their clinical manifestations

The most common sign of obsessional neurosis is obsessions- obsessive thoughts of a negative nature. The patient is aware of his condition and tries to cope with the disease, but it is impossible to do this on his own.

May occur compulsions, which may be hidden actions or thoughts.

With mild neurosis, outsiders may attribute the patient’s quirks to the person’s character traits; in severe conditions, this disorder means disability.

Mild neurosis is sometimes mistaken for personality traits

There are several paths of the disease:

Symptoms persist for several months or even years
With lulls and outbreaks provoked by stressful situations
Constant and steady progression of the disease

Personality characteristics in obsessive-compulsive neurosis

Phobic neurosis- obsessive fears.
Obsessive neurosis- obsessive movements and actions.

How to get rid of obsession

It is advisable to combine several approaches to quickly and effectively treat the patient.

Obsession syndrome should not be left untreated

To get rid of obsessive-compulsive disorder, the following are used:

Drug therapy - the use of antidepressants, tranquilizers, psychotropic drugs. In severe cases of the disease, the patient may remain in a psychiatric hospital.
Cognitive behavioral therapy involves bringing the patient face to face with his phobia in order to demonstrate how unfounded his fears are.
“Thought stopping” - used to treat obsessions and phobias.
Hypnosis.
Individual psychotherapy.
Autogenic training.
Game therapy.
Art therapy.

Obsession with cleanliness

Cleaning that is not fun and inconvenient for everyone is the most common form of cleanliness neurosis.

Neurosis of purity arises due to the impossibility of resolving a conflict situation or a constantly disturbing feeling. What distinguishes obsession from the usual desire to tidy up an apartment is that with such behavior a person begins to cause inconvenience to himself and others. The patient does not receive pleasure and household benefits from cleaning, since often already clean and put away things are put in order.

Cleanliness neurosis can manifest itself as:

Washing already clean objects, moving things that are in order from place to place, constant hand washing, long bath procedures, etc.
Cleaning at inappropriate times (a few minutes before guests arrive, during an argument).
Excessively long cleaning with the inability to stop.
The desire to put everything in its place and intolerance to the movement of things from their usual positions.

At the same time, a person does not receive pleasure from all of the above actions.

Cleanliness neurosis is associated with a constantly disturbing feeling

Cleanliness neurosis can occur due to:

Exaggerated desire to be perfect
Desires to forget some unpleasant events of the past
Aggression caused by the inability to express one’s emotions or opinion on something or someone else’s account
Trying not to think about very exciting events
Striving to put your inner world in order
Desires to compensate for one’s shortcomings of a sexual nature - imaginary or real - at the expense of one’s abilities in the household

People with:

Low self-esteem
Strong dependence on the opinions of others
Lack of confidence in yourself and your judgment
Certain stereotypes that developed in childhood
Constant exposure to stress
Excessive demands on yourself and others
A penchant for collecting

However, it is worth remembering that keeping the apartment clean and tidy, putting things in their places and organizing them is not necessarily a symptom of neurosis if all these actions give a person pleasure and do not take up most of his time.

Cleaning when you are obsessively clean still does not bring psychological satisfaction

Obsessive thoughts during VSD

VSD (vegetative-vascular dystonia) is a dysfunction of the human autonomic system. With this disease, the following types of neuroses may occur:

Neurasthenia- increased irritability of the body in combination with general weakness and loss of strength, increased fatigue and, as a consequence, physical and mental exhaustion. Accompanied by depression, dizziness and severe headaches that interfere with mental and physical work.
Hysterical neurosis- a strong surge of emotions that occurs as a result of severe stress and is accompanied by a convulsion, partial loss of sensitivity, transient paralysis, and loss of consciousness.
Phobic neurosis- a constant feeling of fear and anxiety, accompanied by disruption of the autonomic system, and resulting in social withdrawal. Also, as a result, panic attacks and phobias may occur.
Hypochondriacal neurosis- excessive concern about one’s own health and, as a result, a constant feeling of anxiety and fear of getting sick. Such patients react sharply to any physical discomfort felt and immediately consult a doctor. They can invent symptoms for themselves and in most cases do not agree to take medications.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder- involuntary thoughts and fears that cannot be eliminated.
Depressive neurosis- chronic fatigue, depression, loss of interest in life, in some cases accompanied by thoughts of suicide. Occurs due to unresolved traumatic situations.