Messie Syndrome

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Living room of a person with messie syndrome
Apartment view of a person with messie syndrome
House entrance and yard of a person with Messie Syndrome

The term messie syndrome (derived from English mess “chaos, mess”) describes compulsive behavior in which the excessive accumulation of more or less worthless objects in one's own apartment is in the foreground, combined with the inability to get away from the objects again to separate and keep order. In extreme cases, it comes to a litter syndrome : The apartment is then partially no longer accessible, it can resemble a junkyard or a garbage dump. The topic is also described as a disorganization problem . Over-collecting of objects may be caused by a mental disorder . The disease-related syndrome is assigned to the compulsive spectrum disorders .

Messie is originally a derogatory expression of the German colloquial language. Through reporting in the mass media , it was also used in the psychotherapeutic professional world. In contrast, the term has not established itself in the English-speaking world. There the syndrome is called hoarding or compulsive hoarding ("compulsive hoarding").

definition

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Messie syndrome is a disorder of valuation (valuation disorder ). Those affected have difficulty assessing the value and usefulness of objects and treating them accordingly. Instead, many things are given an exaggerated value that leads to the inability to part with them. This could be, for example, old newspapers and books, groceries, tools, packaging materials, toys, spare parts, clothing, etc. These could be certain types of items or they could be random. The things are either procured or simply kept, even if, according to generally accepted standards, disuse or uselessness make giving away or disposing of them sensible.

history

The self-affected American special education teacher Sandra Feltoner freed herself from her situation, published a guidebook and founded the self-help group Messies Anonymous in the 1980s . The term messie is not widely accepted in English. Press reports made the term Messie known in German-speaking countries.

In 2006, the writer Evelyn Grill published a successful novel about a messie and his environment. The term has entered the general language consciousness and describes a wide range of healthy to pathological behaviors.

description

Symptoms

Those affected suffer from a deficit in planning their actions in a targeted manner in order to cope with their everyday tasks. This can be expressed in:

  • Untidiness up to odor nuisance and hygienic problems
  • compulsive collecting of worthless or used things
  • chronic problems with timing and punctuality
  • Paralysis of the ability to act (action blockade) also in important situations
  • Missing or not doing ( postponing ) normal social obligations. (It can happen, for example, that the entire mail - whether advertising, important letters or reminders - is left unopened.)
  • limited social interaction, which u. a. often causes an extremely messy apartment
  • Helplessness under the pressure of chaos

Messies tend to collect or hoard things that most people would consider worthless and throw away. Those affected are mostly unable to assess the real value of these objects and differentiate between important and unimportant, useful and useless. Often they see the irrationality of their hoarding, but are not able to act accordingly. Sometimes they have very specific ideas about what they want to use the objects for, but fail to implement this plan.

In extreme cases, the accumulation of objects means that larger areas of the apartment or even an entire house can no longer be entered. Sometimes only narrow aisles remain between large piles, boxes and sacks. With these amounts of stacked items, cleaning living spaces is becoming increasingly difficult. If windows and doors are blocked, there may be a lack of fresh air and daylight inside the apartment . Static problems can occur due to the heavy weight of the stacked items. In the end, it can make the apartment uninhabitable. If the landlord terminates the apartment and has it vacated, it can lead to homelessness or even homelessness of the person concerned.

Closely linked to objective hoarding is sometimes the immaterial postponement of obligations in favor of other, less urgent actions ( procrastination ). As a result, messies often have difficulty setting priorities , getting things done, and managing their actions effectively according to their own goals. In particular, the implementation of planned actions that are not currently satisfactory is difficult for them, as is a task-based timing. Similar to attention deficit / hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the so-called executive functions are disturbed.

Messies also often have the problem that they may throw themselves into new tasks full of enthusiasm and organize a lot, but then ultimately find that they are not up to the task. Many projects that have been started are left behind and contribute to increasing the disorder in life.

Many messies are ashamed of their mess and suffer from it. As a result of social isolation , those affected are often unable to allow other people to recognize their problem or to seek help on their own initiative. Outwardly, messies are mostly inconspicuous. They often appear to be open, optimistic, versatile and creative people, and they are often well dressed and well groomed. Sometimes messies - seemingly paradoxical - have a tendency towards perfectionism .

Sometimes this behavior leads to difficulties in social interaction and other problems such as the litter syndrome or neglect . Many messies lead normal, inconspicuous lives on the outside. However, certain symptoms sometimes show in the behavior towards the outside, whereby the differentiation is sometimes difficult. Even people whose apartment may be tidy, but who have a subjective feeling of being overwhelmed when it comes to tidiness in their apartment, are sometimes referred to as messies. The blocking of action in one's own home is considered characteristic.

causes

The causes of the messie syndrome are manifold, the ones listed below are just a few of many possible (co-) causes. A large number of items that have been taken along, for example when moving, are temporarily stored in the apartment, as these have been classified as worth preserving or worth remembering, but some are never unpacked. This can sometimes coincide with other difficulties, such as separating from your partner after which you have to move into a smaller apartment, or losing your job and the associated financial bottlenecks that also make a move necessary.

Other diseases that are also associated with fatigue , exhaustion, weakness, even poor eyesight or poor walking, such as (old age) diabetes (or other altered previous diabetes) or (creeping) cancer should be considered as differential diagnosis and exclusion diagnosis ; also a chronic or another chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), possibly also caused by aging in loneliness etc.

One cause can be fear of loss . Someone who buys something, buys something or is given a present by someone associates a pleasant memory with the property that should not be underestimated. For the messie who has never or rarely received affection or approval in his life , that reminder of the pleasantly purchased property may be the only thing he can cling to. A memory he doesn't want to lose again. This is how the messie hoards them. He collects everything that triggered the pleasant memory. Under no circumstances does he want to dispose of one of these memories with the trash for fear that the only pleasant thing in his life will leave him.

Messie syndrome can also be the result of trauma , i.e. a mental wound or a stroke of fate that threw the person off track. Psychologists refer to this as of gone wrong mourning or from adjustment disorder .

Another reason for the exaggerated passion for collecting can be avarice . The person concerned cannot part with anything or has to save everything because he assumes that he can use it again, even if he no longer has an overview of his belongings. The desire to conserve resources by reusing discarded objects, understood as a conscious departure from the throwaway society , can be a motivation to collect, whereby attempts are often made to repair or repurpose defective objects.

Associations with other mental disorders

When diagnosing mental disorders, psychotherapists generally use the common ICD-10 or DSM IV classification systems , which do not contain the term messie syndrome.

The syndrome can be based on various psychological disorders. It can be a disorder of self-regulation or executive functions in the context of an obsessive-compulsive disorder , depression , personality disorders or other mental illnesses .

Some experts assume that messie syndrome (in cases where there is no psychosis , severe depression, or senility ) has a similar basis to ADHD or is a variant of this disorder. The clarification of attention deficit / hyperactivity disorder should therefore be part of a specialist or psychological diagnosis of Messie syndrome.

One study suggests, however, that messie syndrome should not necessarily be seen as a symptom of another disease, but also appears as an independent disorder.

Help and treatment

A housekeeper can be useful for messies, but it is not always accepted because they often feel particularly shame about their privacy and also usually have a strong need to keep control of their belongings themselves.

There are public advisory services for the persons concerned; Sun offers Caritas a household organization training on, as part of their offer of domestic and family care .

Many experts consider coaching a suitable means of supporting messies. A coach does not intervene personally, but only advises. The creation of work plans and support in adhering to them often help those affected to better structure their daily tasks. Since messies suffer from feelings of shame and guilt anyway , admonitions are usually not helpful. Instead, small advances should be recognized.

Compulsive collecting is often treated with behavioral therapy, similar to an obsessive-compulsive disorder. The first thing to do here is to endure the compulsive impulses (“I have to keep it”) while suppressing the collecting behavior. Any negative emotions that arise must not be pushed away. Specific therapy programs for individual therapy as well as group treatment have already been developed for English-speaking countries.

In the individual therapy of patients with messia symptoms, the fundamental basis of a stable therapeutic relationship, which is characterized by trust , respect and recognition , and which uses humor as a "problem cushion" is important. Furthermore, it can be helpful for some patients to address the topic of self-care very early on and to discover or build up a deep- seated basic feeling of one's own worth . Spiritual approaches can also be helpful here.

Within the broad spectrum of milder forms of disorder and self-regulatory weakness and severe disorders that severely impair the autonomy and fitness for life of those affected, there are currently no clear criteria for determining the severity of an illness that requires treatment.

After a detailed medical examination and diagnosis, supportive drug treatment may be indicated, depending on the underlying psychological disorder, such as with an antidepressant (for depression or obsessive-compulsive disease ) or with stimulants for ADHD.

A messie help phone has also been set up.

Description of the symptoms in English-speaking countries

The term messie syndrome is not used in the English-speaking world . The psychopathology described here is referred to in English as compulsive hoarding , in media and colloquial language sometimes also as hoard and clutter syndrome or pack rat syndrome .

When collecting and Horten is in the foreground, the symptoms in English-speaking the spectrum is OCD ( obsessive-compulsive disorders , abbr. OCD ) is assigned. If an action disorder in the sense of deficits in self-regulation or the executive function is in the foreground, the disorder is usually seen there as a form of attention deficit / hyperactivity disorder .

See also

literature

Specialist literature

  • Arnd Barocka among others: The apartment as a garbage dump. In: MMW - Advances in Medicine. 45, 2004.
  • Werner Gross: Messie syndrome: filling holes in the soul. In: German Medical Association (Association of German Medical Associations) and National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (ed.): Deutsches Ärzteblatt. Edition PP, For psychological psychotherapists and child and adolescent psychotherapists. Issue 9, September 10, 2002, ISSN  1438-874X , pp. 419-420, accessed on June 2, 2019 ( PDF; 54 kB ).
  • Norbert Lotz among others: Above and beyond. The messie syndrome. First-Verlag, Frankfurt 2014, ISBN 978-3-931562-20-5 .
  • Joachim Marschall: When collecting creates suffering . In: Brain & Mind . No. 7 , 2009, p. 20-26 .
  • Rainer Rehberger: Messies - addiction and compulsion. Psychodynamics and treatment for messie syndrome and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-608-89049-5 .
  • Veronika Schröter: Messie Worlds. Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2017, ISBN 978-3-608-89183-6 .
  • Andreas Schmidt: The Messie House Index (MHI) - attempt of an empirical systematic quantification of behavior-ecological phenotype diagnostics of the Messie phenomenon. Grin-Verlag, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-640-30710-4 .
  • Gisela Steins: Investigations to describe a disorganization problem. What is the Messie phenomenon? In: Journal for Clinical Psychology, Psychiatry and Psychotherapy. 2000; 48, No. 3, pp. 266-179.
  • Gisela Steins: Disorganization problems. The messie phenomenon. Pabst Science Publishers, Lengerich u. a. 2003, ISBN 3-89967-009-4 .
  • Gisela Steins and others: But I'm still a messie! An intervention case study on the messie phenomenon. Pabst Science Publishers, Lengerich u. a. 2004, ISBN 3-89967-109-0 .
  • Alfred Pritz (Ed.): The Messie Syndrome: Phenomenon - Diagnostics - Therapy. Springer Verlag, 2009, ISBN 978-3-211-76519-7 .
  • Annina Wettstein: Messies. Everyday life between chaos and order. Zurich 2005, ISBN 3-908784-03-4 .

Self-help literature

  • Eva S. Roth: The Messie Handbook - Disorder, Disorganization, Chaotic Behavior - Description and Causes . Klotz, Eschborn near Frankfurt am Main 2005, ISBN 3-88074-471-8 .
  • Eva S. Roth: Once a messie, always a messie? Snapshots from a chaotic life . Klotz, Eschborn near Frankfurt am Main 2005, ISBN 3-88074-470-X .
  • Barbara Lath: Guide to dealing with chaos apartments . Klotz, Eschborn near Frankfurt am Main 2006, ISBN 3-88074-479-3 .

Film productions

Movies

  • Ulrich Grossenbacher (director): Messies, a beautiful chaos. Documentary, Switzerland 2011.
  • Martina Elbert (director and screenplay): I'll clean up tomorrow. TV feature film, Germany 2008.
  • Thomas Haemmerli (director): Seven hollows and a corpse . Documentary, Zurich 2007.
  • Raymond Ley (Director): Beloved Garbage! About the man who couldn't throw anything away . Documentary, Germany 2001.

Reality shows

  • Clean house . Reality show, USA, since 2003.
  • The messie team . Reality show, D, since 2011, 2 seasons, 11 episodes
  • Messie Alert . Reality show, 1 season, 6 episodes
  • Warning messies! Reality show, cable 1

Series episodes

Web links

Commons : Messie Syndrome  - Collection of Pictures, Videos, and Audio Files
Wiktionary: Messie  - Explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g Werner Gross: Messie syndrome: plugging holes in the soul. In: German Medical Association (Association of German Medical Associations) and National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (ed.): Deutsches Ärzteblatt. Edition PP, For psychological psychotherapists and child and adolescent psychotherapists. Issue 9, September 10, 2002, ISSN  1438-874X , pp. 419-420, accessed on June 2, 2019 ( PDF; 54 kB ).
  2. ↑ Messie Syndrome Patient Information, Spektrum.de, September 9, 2014.
  3. ↑ Ulrike Buhlmann, Tanja Endrass: Compulsive spectrum disorders . In: Journal of Psychiatry, Psychology and Psychotherapy . tape 61 , 2013.
  4. ↑ See Alfred Pritz (Ed.): The Messie Syndrome. Vienna, New York 2009.
  5. ↑ Compulsive Hoarding: OCD Symptom, Distinct Clinical Syndrome, or Both? American Psychiatric Association, October 1, 2008, accessed January 26, 2014 .
  6. ↑ a b Volker Faust: Lonely under garbage (section Messies)
  7. ↑ Evelyn Grill: The collector . Novel. Residence, St. Pölten / Salzburg 2006.
  8. ↑ Messie Syndrome: Chaos in the Head , sueddeutsche.de
  9. ↑ Summary of a study on Messie Syndrome
  10. ↑ G. Steketee, RO Frost: Compulsive Hoarding and Acquiring: Therapist Guide. Oxford University Press, New York 2003.
  11. ↑ J. Muroff, P. Underwood, G. Steketee: Group Treatment for Hoarding Disorder: Therapist Guide. Oxford University Press, 2014.
  12. ↑ Norbert Lotz: Above and Above. The messie syndrome. First-Verlag, Frankfurt 2014, ISBN 978-3-931562-20-5 .
  13. ↑ H-Team_Messie-Hilfe ( Memento from August 15, 2015 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on October 23, 2019.
  14. ↑ Compulsive Hoarding site of the OC Foundation ( Memento of 18 May 2008 at the Internet Archive ); Do you have hoard and clutter syndrome? ( Memento of January 14, 2010 in the Internet Archive ); Are you a pack advice?
  15. ↑ Klinik Hohe Mark ( Memento from December 17, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) The apartment as a garbage dump, PDF 138KB.
  16. ↑ Website of the lender: Messies, a beautiful mess. In: Ulrich Grossenbacher, A Glorious Mess. 2010, accessed October 23, 2019 .
  17. ^ Rainer Tittelbach : TV film "Tomorrow I clean up". tittelbach.tv, accessed on April 12, 2017 .
  18. ↑ Website of the lender: https://messiemother.com/
  19. ↑ Beloved garbage! - From the man who couldn't throw anything away ... »Doku.me. Retrieved September 30, 2017 .
  20. ↑ shz.de  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.shz.de  
  21. ↑ fernsehserien.de