Why is the media so obsessed with OCD when it comes to hoarding, when hoarding is the opposite of everything OCD stands for? People with OCD tend to be organized, neat, and clean. Hoarders, on the other hand, are disorganized, messy, and a general health and safety hazard. They couldn’t be further from the definition of obsessive-compulsive disorder if they tried.

Do hoarders have the obsessions and compulsions that are so integral to OCD, or is their hoarding just nonsense? Most hoarders will tell you they don’t even know how their hoarding got out of hand. Is that the meticulous attitude of someone with OCD? I do not think! How hoarding came to be labeled OCD is a mystery. Less than 1% of the population hoards, and 2.5% of the population has OCD. According to the Mayo Clinic, many people who hoard do not have other OCD-related symptoms. Furthermore, according to Dr. Staab of the Mayo Clinic, “recent functional brain imaging studies suggest a different pattern of brain activity in patients with hoarding versus other OCD symptoms. All of these data support the separation of hoarding from OCD.”

Isn’t it time we debunked the hoarding myth and instead recognized hoarding’s opposite, obsessive-compulsive Spartanism, a real and distressing version of OCD that deserves to be recognized? Obsessive-compulsive Spartans really obsess over their space and things, arranging, counting, arranging, rearranging and purging, constantly feeling cluttered even though they live in minimalist and Spartan conditions. Obsessive-Compulsive Spartans are so strict about what goes in and what stays in their home, that it causes great distress and/or disruption to daily life.

Unfortunately, the American Psychiatric Association does not officially recognize OCD as a psychiatric disorder. Even more frustrating is that, in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) IV, hoarding has been classified as an OCD symptom. Fortunately, however, it appears that hoarding will be classified as a separate disease in the 2013 edition of DSM V.

It is very important to note that OCD Spartanism has NOTHING to do with OCD contamination (cleanliness, hand washing, etc.). And that, like cleaning and checking, obsessive-compulsive spartanism can stand alone and cause a lot of angst just as it is.

I would suggest that obsessive-compulsive Spartanism manifests as follows:

1) You need to have minimal things in your house.

2) You need to have specific numbers of everything you have in your home.

3) Everything must fit into a category, or you can’t have it at all

4) Everything has a very specific place.

The OCD part is the constant editing: Is this the right shelf for my books? Why do I have 6 pairs of shoes? Maybe I should have five? A screwdriver doesn’t fit into any of my acceptable categories, so I won’t have one, even if it means constantly pestering the neighbor to lend me theirs. I know I’m about to miss my flight, but I can’t leave the house until I’m happy my kitchen cabinet doesn’t look cluttered.

Because this brand of OCD never appears in any of the textbooks, and is never talked about, there are probably many sufferers struggling in silence and wishing they had other, more famous OCD symptoms, just so they wouldn’t feel so weird and only. Some unfortunate souls probably have no idea that they have OCD and that treatment is available, just like it is for other OCD sufferers.

Hoarders have recognition of their suffering, obsessive-compulsive Spartans do not. It might be a lot less interesting or scandalous than hoarding, but it’s torture, as only an OCD sufferer can know.

Think about it. there are:

TOC contamination

Verification

tidy

counting

Hoarding!!!

Scrupulous (Religious OCD)

HOCD

sexual OCD

PureO

pinch the skin

Everyone’s pain is recognized, except the obsessive-compulsive Spartans! If you have a clutter phobia, this should infuriate you and you want to raise awareness about this type of torment.

Time to get out of some very neat closets…