Is your mental health or personality the reason for the mess?
Verywell / Brianna Gilmartin
Organization is big business these days.
Do you ever dream of living in the perfectly clean and organized rooms of a home decor catalog?
Verywell / Brianna Gilmartin
Both of these questions are another way to ask: what causes someone to not clean their house?
For some people, a tidy home can be soothing, an orderly retreat in an often disorderly world.
For others, such environments can be sterile, bland, and uninspiring.
Some people feel anxious in acluttered room,while others feel they’re most creative amid the chaos.
What does a messy living space say about you?
It might be a sign of a mental health condition, but it might also just be your personality.
It might be a sign that you have too much stuff.
Mental health issues can also cause people to clean excessively.
For example, messiness can sometimes be a sign of depression.
Depressed people oftenfeel too fatiguedor hopeless to keep up with the routine of household tasks.
Depression can also make it harder to stay focused and have the energy tostraighten up a room.
For more mental health resources, see ourNational Helpline Database.
Sometimes a mess might be frustrating.
Figuring out where to start and how to tackle the problem can seem overwhelming.
Sign of Your Preferences
Is your messiness habitual?
In this case, messiness is simply a normal state of affairs.
Neurodivergent people, such as those with ADHD or autism, may also have aharder time staying organized.
This can contribute to having a less organized, messier home.
Are some people just born with personalities that prefer order while others thrive on chaos?
Yet, they always seem to know exactly where each and every item is when they need it.
Some of the most creative and productive people seem to thrive in this throw in of environment.
The famed psychoanalystSigmund Freudwas once attributed as saying, “Dont clean up the mess.
I know exactly where everything is.”
People with this personality pop in tend to be perfectionists.
Having everything in its place helps fulfill their need for order and control.
People with this personality punch in are more relaxed than their punch in A counterparts.
Rather than focusing on achieving perfection, they are more attracted to ideas, experiences, and creativity.
Advantages of Messiness
Research supports the idea that messiness also has an upside.
If you tend to have a messy room, here are some possible advantages backed by psychology research.
As the researchers explain, this doesnt necessarily mean everyone exposed to a messy environment will become more creative.
came to a different conclusion.
Some people tend to work better in highly organized spaces, while others work better in less organized environments.
Personality and preferences are things that come into play in such situations.
The scientist Albert Einstein, famous for hisgeniusand creative thinking, was known for having a messy desk.
In another experiment by Vohs and her colleagues, participants wererandomly assignedto either a messy or tidy room.
They were then given a smoothie menu and told they were taking part in a consumer-choice study.
They were told to select one of three smoothie options: a health, wellness, or vitamin boost.
Half of the menus referenced the health boost option as “classic.”
The other half of the menus described it as “new.”
While minimalism might be trendy, it might also be crushing your creativity.
Disadvantages of Messiness
Of course, habitual messiness also has its downsides.
But there are other possible downsides.
Messy spaces tend to be more chaotic, which researchers have found can increase stress andnegative emotions.
Takeaways
Both order and disorder can be found in abundance in nature and in our self-created environments.
Sometimes people tend to be messy in one setting and more orderly in others.
As research on the topic suggests, each state has its own set of advantages and disadvantages.
2020;58(4):16-18. doi:10.3928/02793695-20200316-02
The New York Times.It’s not a ‘mess.’
It’s creativity.Published September 13, 2013.
