- Date posted
- 34w ago
Hoarding
What has helped? I feel like I've struggled with thus my whole life.
What has helped? I feel like I've struggled with thus my whole life.
Start small by decluttering one area at a time. Set achievable goals and break tasks into manageable steps. Consider seeking help from a professional organizer or a clutter specialist to assist you in creating a structured and organized living environment. Recognize and challenge unhelpful thoughts and beliefs that contribute to hoarding behaviors. Practice self-compassion and be kind to yourself as you work on changing your patterns of thinking. Find alternative ways to cope with stress, anxiety, or emotional distress that do not involve hoarding. Engage in activities that bring you joy, relaxation, such as hobbies, exercise, mindfulness, or creative pursuits. Establish routines for decluttering, organizing, and maintaining a clutter free environment. Regularly review your belongings and identify items that you no longer need or use. Recovery from hoarding disorder is a gradual process that requires patience, practice, and persistence.
Recently I posted about me watching the television series Hoarders on Hulu . I find it helpful watching as it helps me put things in better perspective and context not just for hoarding but OCD & GAD in general.
Agreed. I love watching hoarder house flippers shows cause it gives me insight and ideas into our house that we're renovating and it also helps to have hope for decluttering and cleaning a deeply cluttered house
I'm reaching out in hopes of finding others who might relate to my experiences or offer insights. I'm dealing with a complex interplay of OCD, depression, and existential anxiety, and I'm struggling to make sense of it all. Here's what I'm experiencing: I have OCD with various manifestations, along with episodes of depression. I find myself in a cyclical pattern where, after a few weeks, I start to remind myself about my depressive tendencies. This reminder seems to trigger a cycle that actually makes me feel more depressed or at least more aware of depressive symptoms. When this happens, I often experience feelings of nihilism and existential dread. I try to think about my family - my two young boys and my wife - to find motivation or a sense of purpose, but this strategy often backfires, making me feel even more anxious and depressed. I constantly check my feelings, wondering if they're depressive or anxious. At the same time, I fear that my feelings of anxiety and panic might spiral out of control. I think about my emotions and thoughts on a meta-level, which means I'm not just experiencing feelings, but I'm also constantly analyzing the fact that I'm experiencing them. There's an existential component to my struggles, a fear of depression and anxiety itself, and a sense that this might be a self-fulfilling prophecy. Perhaps most frustratingly, I often have feelings, thoughts, or sensory experiences that I can't explain or put into words. I feel like I've never heard of these before, which leaves me feeling deeply misunderstood. Does anyone else experience something similar? How do you cope with this complex web of symptoms and experiences? I'm particularly interested in hearing from those who've found ways to break the cycle of meta-cognition and self-fulfilling anxiety. Any insights, shared experiences, or strategies would be deeply appreciated. Thank you for your time and understanding.
I’ve been struggling with this for the part year and it’s been horrible I hate my life and I feel like nothing works , please help or feel free to share tips or your own story
I feel like in some ways receiving a diagnosis for OCD has in some ways made things worse. I’ve always had what I called “phases” throughout life, which I now know were ocd episodes, but I didn’t really make too much of them and even if it was over several long difficult months, they’d always seem to kind of just pass. Recently I’ve begun my worse flare up in the last few years and now that I’m older I seemed professional help which led to my diagnosis. This all sounds great of course but I can’t actually afford therapy right now so I kinda just have the diagnosis but not the support so now that I realize these phases are actually this incurable mental illness I just feel like I’ve lost all hope that I’ll ever be happy and I feel like I basically obsess about obsessing at this point and it just sucks. Has anyone else had this or a similar experience?
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