I have a friend who really wants a clean house - or so she claims - but cannot seem to get it clean. When she finally does get it cleaned, its just a matter of days until it is messy again. I mean to tell you... if there is an empty space, something (that doesnt belong there) will end up there in a very short time. She does clean her dishes and toilet...and she does not have any bugs. But even she wonders why she surrounds herself in clutter, because actually, she's a perfectionist in other areas of her life. But in a way, it's crippling because she is embarrassed to have anyone over.
Please...any psychologists out there have any theories?
2007-11-09 13:14:54 · 4 answers · asked by bluelotus 3 in Social Science ➔ Psychology
That's a bit puzzling. Most people who are perfectionists in general are exceedingly neat in housekeeping. They make the rest of us feel like slobs!
If she has always been this way, then perhaps subconsciously she gets sick of feeling compelled to be such a perfectionist generally, and she needs a place to relax, where she doesn't place such demands on herself. So at home, she rebels against her own excessively high standards. But then when she does let go of her "neatnikness" these standards reassert themselves, and she frets and stews about the mess. Then she feels she must restore order.
If this messiness at home is more recent, perhaps she is feeling overwhelmed by stresses in her life and sees her home as a place that she can kick back and de-stress. So she lets down her standards at home, where people won't see and won't so easily judge her.
So what do you think about these possibilities?
2007-11-09 13:36:49 · answer #1 · answered by Pat K 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Freud believed it started with Potty Training; supposedly, if the Potty Training is forced too early and strictly they grow up to be really neat and organized to the point where it's almost obsessive-compulsive and if it's too lax they end up more likely to be slobs,or something. Don't know if i necessarily agree with or believe that theory, but i guess it could be possible that it has something to do with that,since so much of who we are is "programmed" at a very young age
2007-11-09 13:23:23 · answer #2 · answered by Miss Understood 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There is a theory that it is a sign of depression if you surround yourself with absolute clutter. The state of your mind is apparently reflected in the way you maintain your environment.
2007-11-09 13:28:09 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It will never change. I've been married 38 years, and my wife
is still the same, and it's "don't touch my stuff" or I won't be
able to find it. You marry for better, or for worse. Mine is for
the "better," because, it couldn't get any "worse."
2007-11-09 13:27:29 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋