Psychotherapist Ivan Fenin warns: an excessive desire for purity can be a sign of hidden neurosis and even psychosis, so you should not demand extreme accuracy from yourself and your loved ones, this can lead to bad consequences.

Situation one.

Order first!

There are many women in the older generation who have very strict and firm rules about how and when to clean the house, how to arrange things in the closet, how often to change linen, and so on. They usually fulfill these requirements themselves, but sometimes they encourage loved ones to follow the “master plan” drawn by them and consider those who are not concerned with cleanliness to be “lost” people.

What to do

Remember that all cleanliness is relative - not only a leak from neighbors can happen, but also an earthquake, demolition of a house or a fire. Then all efforts to restore order will seem ridiculous. Try to look at them from this point of view, thank God that there is nothing like this in your life, and clean only as much as you have time and energy without compromising other interests.

It is useful for married women, with rare exceptions, to realize that men, alas, do not at all appreciate, for the most part, either cleanliness or order in the house. He interferes with them, complicates life, while they expect peace and ease from home.

Situation two.

The infection is teeming around, you need to wash your hands as often as possible

There are people who have an increased sense of danger, anxiety in relation to their body. This is not selfishness, but the structure of personality. In childhood, such boys, and more often girls, regret a pulled tooth, love to wash very much and, unlike their peers, carefully lay out toys in boxes.

Under certain conditions, they may experience "clean hands psychosis". In a situation of anxiety, they begin to wash their hands, first after the street, after visiting someone else's house, which they do not like. And then at home, so much so that over time they erase their skin on their palms to the point of blood.

What to do

1. Handwashing psychosis requires treatment with special psychotherapeutic techniques. But, if you notice it in yourself in a mild form, you can try one of the algorithms proposed by American psychotherapists.

● Do not wash your bathroom floor for a week. After that, wipe it for three minutes with an ordinary mop. Use the same mop for other jobs without first cleaning it.

● Buy a fluffy mohair sweater and wear it for a week. When taking off a sweater at night, do not remove the spools of wool from it.

● You, your husband and children must not take off their shoes when entering from the street. Do not clean the house during the week.

● Throw sheets and blankets on the floor, then place them on the bed. Do not change this bed linen for a week.

2. Other ways to cope with a dangerous addiction to cleanliness are suggested to be carried out with a psychotherapist.

Patients are repeatedly introduced into contact with objects or situations that cause anxiety, obsessive fears or obsessive actions. In doing so, they are “allowed” to resist the urge to do the things that they feel they must do. Therapists often lead by example. While under the supervision of patients, doctors interact with objects without compulsive actions and then encourage patients to do the same.

Situation three.

Sex is associated with dirt, it should be avoided and ashamed

To a greater extent, this syndrome is associated with female psychology, because women more often feel like an object of violence, use, they are less likely to express their desires and feelings in this area. She is sharply hostile towards other women who are doing well in their intimate life, especially young ones.

Sometimes such complexes lead to the development of dermatitis, allergies, symbolizing the rejection of oneself from others, intolerance to the situation, about which the body “screams”, but the mind does not want to know. Possible pathology of the gastrointestinal tract.

What to do

1. Such deviations require serious psychotherapeutic intervention, of course, if the woman herself suffers from them, is aware of this and is ready to undergo a course of treatment. Often the problem lies in some kind of complexes associated with childhood, in relationships with father and mother, which require serious analysis.

2. Experts consider the most successful in such cases the so-called process-oriented psychotherapy, when the patient moves in his own direction, only experienced by him, and the psychotherapist, feeling the trajectory of movement, helps him use his own internal resource, focusing the patient's attention on "key" words, postures, gestures, sensations. In this case, the key position is faith in healing through a spontaneous, living process that occurs in the patient. This therapy can be compared to a journey, the outcome of which is not known in advance.

The desire for cleanliness in one's home has always been considered a positive feature, but if a person is literally obsessed with perfect order and seeks to sterilize and disinfect everything that is possible, then experts say that this is already a mental illness called ripophobia. An individual suffering from this phobia is constantly afraid of various pollution, prefers not to touch the objects around him, especially outside the home. Ripophobia is often observed in housewives, when the obsessive desire for perfect cleanliness turns into a fixed idea.

A person suffering from ripophobia constantly washes his hands, fearing that pathogenic microbes and dirt accumulate on them. But in reality, psychologists say that at such moments the patient does not think about possible infections, the very factor of washed hands is important for him. This action calms him somewhat, although for a rather short time. The desire to avoid contact with foreign objects is so great that the ripophobe tries, if possible, not to leave his apartment in order to minimize the need to touch various foreign objects.

It is also reliably known that basically all ripophobes know that there are also useful bacteria that are simply necessary for a person to digest food, and not just salmonellosis and E. coli. However, the sufferer of ripophobia always overestimates the negative impact of various microorganisms, and is sure that they are dangerous under any potential impact. Ripophobia is a common symptom of anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder, which are associated with violent acts and unwanted thoughts. In some cases, ripophobia is associated with hypochondria - when there is a strong fear of contracting some kind of infection. In most cases, ripophobia is treated as a specific phobia.

Causes of ripophobia

Basically, such an attitude towards the environment and an excessive fear of dirt and microbes are formed in childhood, and the parents of the child play a significant role in this. Of course, accustoming to cleanliness is an integral part of education, but sometimes parents focus too much on this area of ​​the baby's attention, making him afraid to touch other people's toys, books, and so on. Ultimately, the unstable children's psyche begins to falter, and the baby learns only one thing - bacteria, dirt and danger are all around.

Also, the cause of ripophobia is often a negative individual experience gained already at an older age, as a result of a certain traumatic event associated with pollution, dust. Sometimes it is not even necessary to have your own negative experience, it is enough just to know that one of his acquaintances has received serious problems associated with the lack of cleanliness and germs.

Many psychologists believe that the sharp increase in ripophobia, observed at the end of the twentieth century, is often caused by people's concern about such serious diseases as AIDS. It is known that ripophobia has a strong distribution in America. There, more and more people use portable belts for the subway, purchase a huge amount of disinfectants, and pay great attention to the hygienic processing of food.

This may be related to the following phobias:

Amatophobia - fear of dust

Bromohydrophobia (autodysomophobia, bromidrosyphobia) - fear of one's own smell, sweating

Bromidrosyphobia - fear of body odors

Dermatopathophobia - fear of getting a skin disease

Mesophobia - obsessive fear of infection, infection and subsequent disease

Misophobia - fear of pollution

Microphobia - fear of germs

Primary source More detailed link and link .

obsessive compulsive disorder is a syndrome

Only this is not a disease, but a state of mind when it is impossible to live in peace if the ideal order is not established. and not only in the apartment, but also in life, business, relationships and work.

short and clear - clean ..))

yesterday they said it was sexual dissatisfaction!))

yes, there are women who rub everything, it’s not a mental problem, just like everyone pollutes or accumulates rubbish in their apartments

affective insanity

Damn, this is really a disease))

I'm also interested, at least I'll find out what I'm sick of)

I don’t know the disease, but the person is called a pedant

1). Ripophobe. People obsessed with cleanliness suffer from "ripophobia".

2). A pedant is a person who is accurate to the point of pettiness, strictly observing the formal order.

3). Misophobe. A person who experiences fear of pollution or infection is called a misophobe.

Order Mania: 3 Possible Psychological Causes

The desire for order and cleanliness is not the worst trait, is it? We usually perceive neat people as good organizers and equally effective performers. What psychological triggers hide behind the need to blow off dust particles and put everything in order?

We are talking about neat people - people who take undisguised pleasure in cleaning, and bully those who do not share their love for shiny surfaces. Yet taken to the extreme, this passion becomes the primary symptom of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). So why do some of us really need order so much?

Perfectionist complex

“Perfectionism and the desire for order go hand in hand,” according to psychologists Martin Anthony and Richard Swinson. Perfectionists perceive cleanliness as one of life's most difficult challenges. Since 100% purity can only be achieved in a sterilizer, they are ready to storm this goal again and again. Moreover, the result (albeit temporary) is noticeable immediately.

Severe anxiety, or clatterophobia

There are many anxious people among the neat people. By putting things in order, they feel they are regaining control of their lives and emotions. Fear of mess, or clatterophobia, may have a genetic basis, as cleanliness was once a major survival advantage in an environment where antibiotics had not yet been invented, says psychotherapist Tom Corboy, director of the Center for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders in Los Angeles. The problem is that today this anxiety can arise for the most insignificant reasons.

“An unbridled passion for order and a thirst for control are characteristic of people who grew up in an unstable environment,” says biologist and author of books on the psychology of risk Glen Croston. For example, one of the parents was constantly absent or abused alcohol, the family experienced serious material problems, the house was constantly dirty and not cleaned. A child could try to win back at least some island of order, and the washed sink in the kitchen in this case became a stronghold of illusory stability.

Striving to be good

It is no coincidence that purification rituals occupy such a large place in all world religions. Adherence to religious and social norms, conscientiousness, integrity are characteristic of neat people. “Neat people tend to see themselves as conscientious and responsible. They think before they act. This is how we envision the ideal air traffic controllers,” explains University of Texas at Austin psychology professor Sam Gosling, bestselling author of The Curious Eye: What Your Stuff Tells 2 . However, his own research found that for all their outward decency, neat people are not more empathic or kind than those who scatter things.

The author of The Perfect Mess 3, David Friedman, believes that by wanting to be right and blocking all unwanted impulses with the same care that they put in order, neat people are setting themselves into a trap.

First, too “ideal” environment leaves no room for creativity. "You've ruled out all the wrong things—you're never late, you rarely spill or break anything, but you're also rarely lucky," he writes. A cluttered table, an untidy kitchen is a trademark of famous scientists and talented chefs. It is in chaos, in the fullness of their emotions, "bad" and "good", that they are free to fully explore and create.

Secondly, the pedants spend as much time, if not more, on maintaining order than the "sluts" on finding keys and other necessary things. “I meet hundreds of people who tell me about their obsession with order. And they all admit that it makes them uncomfortable. Neat people simply cannot live otherwise: they are prisoners of their habits,” he sums up.

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Obsession with cleanliness and cleaning

Obsessive-compulsive disorder is an uncontrolled process of constantly remembering traumatic past events, thoughts or actions. Characterized by insecure people. Often occurring changes that disrupt the habitual activity of the patient are accompanied by painful experiences.

Compulsive disorder syndromes

There are two types of obsessive-compulsive disorder:

Distracted obsession, which includes:

1. An obsessive account - a person counts everything he sees: steps, windows, buttons on the shirt of a person standing next to him. Also, various arithmetic operations with numbers can be performed - addition, multiplication.
2. Obsessive thoughts (neurotic obsessions) - manifest as negative thoughts that offend the moral essence of a person, from which it is impossible to get rid of. They cause a constant feeling of anxiety and can even develop into a phobia.
3. Obsessive memories are events from the past of a negative nature that arise involuntarily in the form of vivid pictures.
4. Compulsive actions are automatic, uncontrolled movements that occur involuntarily. The patient does not notice these actions, but is able to stop by an effort of will. However, as soon as he is distracted, they will resume.

Figurative obsession, which includes emotional experiences such as anxiety, emotional stress, fear.

Obsessions. Their clinical manifestations

The most common symptom of obsessional neurosis are obsessions - obsessive thoughts of a negative nature. The patient is aware of his condition and tries to cope with the disease, but it is impossible to do it on his own.

Compulsions may occur, which may be covert actions or thoughts.

With a mild neurosis, the patient's quirks can be attributed by outsiders to the characteristics of a person's character, in severe conditions this disorder means disability.

There are several ways of the course of the disease:

• Symptoms persist for months or even years
• With lulls and outbreaks provoked by stressful situations
• Persistent and steady progression of the disease

Personality characteristics in obsessive-compulsive disorder

Obsessive-compulsive disorder occurs after 10 years of age and is most characteristic during puberty. An assistant in the development of NNS are such personality traits as: anxious and suspicious - indecision, anxiety, constant susceptibility to doubt, strong self-doubt, conservatism; anancaste - excessive caution and suspicion, rigidity, perfectionism, obsession with negative thoughts, the desire to do everything right. As the neurosis progresses, personality disorders also develop.

Fear with obsessions are called phobias (a phobia is an irresistible strong fear that occurs even if the patient is aware of its groundlessness and meaninglessness). Therefore, NNS are divided into two groups:

1. Phobic neurosis - obsessive fears.
2. Neurosis of obsessive actions - obsessive movements and actions.

How to get rid of obsession

It is advisable to combine several approaches for quick and effective treatment of the patient.

To get rid of obsessive-compulsive disorder, the following are used:

• Drug therapy - the use of antidepressants, tranquilizers, psychotropic drugs. In severe cases of the disease, the patient may stay in a psychiatric hospital.
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy - bringing the patient face to face with their phobia in order to demonstrate how groundless their fears are.
• "Thought Stop" - used to treat obsessions and phobias.
• Hypnosis.
• Individual psychotherapy.
• Autogenic training.
• Game therapy.
• Art therapy.

Obsession with purity

Cleaning that does not give pleasure and causes inconvenience to everyone is the most common manifestation of cleanliness neurosis.

Neurosis of purity arises from the inability to resolve some kind of conflict situation or a constantly disturbing feeling. From the usual desire to tidy up the apartment, obsession is distinguished by the fact that with such behavior a person begins to cause inconvenience to himself and others. The patient does not receive pleasure and household benefits from cleaning, as often already clean and tidy things are put in order.

Neurosis of purity can manifest itself as:

• Washing things that are already clean, shifting things that are in order from place to place, constantly washing hands, lengthy bath procedures, etc.
• Cleaning at an inappropriate time for this (a few minutes before the arrival of guests, during a quarrel).
• Excessively long cleaning with the inability to stop.
• The desire to put everything in its place and intolerance to the movement of things from their usual positions.

At the same time, a person does not get pleasure from all these actions.

Neurosis of cleanliness can occur due to:

• Hypertrophied desire to be perfect
• Desire to forget some unpleasant events of the past
• Aggression caused by the inability to express one's emotions or opinions on any or someone else's account
• Striving not to think about very exciting events
• Striving to put your inner world in order
• Desires to compensate for their shortcomings of a sexual nature - imaginary or real - at the expense of their abilities in the household

In men, the obsession with cleanliness manifests itself somewhat differently from women: they begin to demand from their wives constant and unattainable cleanliness in the house. Neurosis can be caused by any unexperienced negative emotion.

People with a cleanliness neurosis are predisposed to:

• low self-esteem
• Strong dependence on the opinions of others
• Lack of confidence in yourself and your judgments
• Certain stereotypes formed in childhood
• Constant exposure to stress
• Excessive demands on oneself and others
• A penchant for collecting

An uncontrollable desire for cleanliness is observed in patients not only in their own homes, but also when they visit other people's apartments. As a result, when visiting, this person either requires urgent cleaning from the owners of the house, experiencing serious discomfort due to the inconsistency of the home with his standards, or suffers, which leads to another unplanned cleaning of the house and an excessive amount of handwashing.

The symptoms of purity neurosis are directly proportional to the severity of the person's inner experiences.

However, it is worth remembering that keeping the apartment clean and tidy, putting things in their places and systematizing them, is not necessarily a symptom of neurosis, if all these actions give a person pleasure and do not occupy most his time.

Obsessive thoughts with VVD

VVD (vegetative-vascular dystonia) is a violation of the functioning of the human autonomic system. With this disease, the following types of neuroses can occur:

• Neurasthenia - increased irritability of the body, combined with general weakness and loss of strength, increased fatigue and, as a result, physical and mental exhaustion. Accompanied by depression, dizziness and severe headache that interferes with mental and physical work.
• Hysterical neurosis is a strong surge of emotions that occurs as a result of severe stress and is accompanied by convulsions, partial loss of sensitivity, translating paralysis, loss of consciousness.
• Phobic neurosis is a constant feeling of fear and anxiety, accompanied by a disruption in the work of the autonomic system, and having social isolation as a consequence. Also, as a result, panic attacks and phobias can occur.
• Hypochondriacal neurosis - excessive concern for one's own health and, as a result, a constant feeling of anxiety and fear of getting sick. Such patients react sharply to any physical discomfort felt and immediately go to the doctor. They can think of symptoms for themselves and in most cases do not agree to take medication.
• Obsessive compulsive disorder - involuntary thoughts and fears that cannot be eliminated.
• Depressive neurosis - chronic fatigue, depression, loss of interest in life, in some cases accompanied by thoughts of suicide. Occurs on the basis of unresolved traumatic situations.

Neurosis of obsessive movements in children. Treatment

Reviews of folk methods of treating neuroses are very, very negative. So if parents really want to cure their child, you need to seek help from a doctor.

Neurosis of obsessive movements is a disorder that occurs in children and adolescents and manifests itself in the form of a series of uncontrolled repetitive movements and a general violation of ontogeny.

Neurosis can manifest itself as:

• thumb sucking
• head turns
• Grinding of teeth
• Tingling any part of the body
• Hand tremor
• hair curling

All these symptoms do not fully define neurosis and can only be a sign of growing up.

The main goal in the treatment of neurosis is to improve relationships in the patient's family, to correct his upbringing.

There are three directions of psychotherapy of children's neuroses:

Family therapy - begins with a study of relationships and the situation in the family, then a clinical conversation is held with relatives, and only after that joint therapy of children and parents. Contact is established with the child through play and words.

• Rational therapy - after establishing contact with the child, the doctor explains the essence of his problem and, with the help of similar stories, they look for a way out of the disturbing situation.
• Autogenic training.
• Play therapy.
• Art therapy.

These methods can be used in conjunction with special medications, physiotherapy and reflexology to increase the effectiveness and speed of the treatment of obsession.

Stuttering. Emotional behavioral disorders in children

Stuttering - periodic muscle cramps, breath holding during speech, repetition of sounds that do not depend on the will of the person.

Causes of stuttering can be:

• Stressful situation
• Retraining left-handers to right-handers
• Living in a homestay where two different languages ​​are spoken
• Premature speech development

There are two types of stuttering:

1. Neurosis-like - occurs at the age of 3-4 years. Often, mothers of such children during pregnancy experienced various pathologies. Patients are distinguished by timidity, self-doubt, restlessness, emotional instability, developmental delays. If untreated, stuttering progresses.
2. Neurotic - occurs between 2 and 6 years. Children start talking early and talk excitedly. The intensity of stuttering depends on the emotional state of the child. Being alone, the baby can speak without stuttering. Such children are distinguished by increased emotional excitability immediately before stuttering.

It is best to start treatment as early as possible. early age.

To be pure, pure ... - a desire for order or a symptom of neurosis?

There is nothing more unhygienic than life.

Aggressive feelings arising from the inability to express emotions about a problematic situation or the belief that there is no one to discuss them with also lead to this "output" in emergency cleaning. Unexpressed aggression towards other people is also connected to all this.

The desire to "protect" oneself from "bad" thoughts often takes place at the beginning of such "cleaning", "washing" everything around and oneself.

An overly vigilant attitude to finding all objects “in their place”, an exaggerated desire to structure everything is also a “bell” of neurosis. The house is sometimes called the "second body". And the desire to clean up the house is a vivid reflection of the desire to put your inner world in order. For such people, moving can be a real disaster with the inevitable domestic chaos, leading to an increase in internal chaos.

Neurosis of purity can be only a partial manifestation of mental "malfunctions." But it should not be confused with the usual maintenance of cleanliness, the desire to establish one's boundaries, to save one's space by keeping the place of one's things.

People with obsessive thoughts and a desire to repress them, setting rigid boundaries for themselves and others, are top on this list.

Who is not at risk? Psychologists say that these are people who are able to play life and perceive themselves, all those around them with all their advantages and disadvantages.

Does cleaning solve the problem?

But, unfortunately, cleaning does not have the ability to relieve stress. On the contrary, such behavior can lead to the habit of repeating all this at any next stressful state.

Only partial relief can be brought by this activity at first, but not for long. After all, the problem itself is not resolved.

Center "ABC for parents"

Comments

DrMD | Written: 15.09.:26:57 Thank you, useful article.

Anastasia | Written: 10.06.:36:22 Thank you very much for the article. She helped to understand a lot and establish cause-and-effect relationships.

Let's talk about Cinderella Syndrome

Most women are sure that cleanliness is the key not only to health, but also to a happy life. But sometimes the desire for cleanliness turns into a "Cinderella syndrome" and can cause the development of real phobias and neuroses. Most often, women aged 25 to 60 suffer from this disorder, less often - young girls and men. Psychologists strongly advise you to avoid starting relationships with people who have perfect order at home, and if you notice such symptoms in yourself, get rid of them as soon as possible. How to determine when accuracy and cleanliness turns into a real obsession that requires treatment by a psychologist?

Clean, clean, very clean?

The desire for cleanliness and order is an excellent quality of character and is persistently instilled in all children without exception. But, if the mania of cleanliness and order begins to interfere with normal life or turns into a major pastime, then it is necessary to understand what a person is trying to “cleanse” so carefully in his life and how to deal with this problem.

It is quite difficult to understand that cleanliness turns into a mania, since this process goes unnoticed and can last for years. By what signs can one distinguish obsession with cleanliness?

• The perfectionist complex - the Cinderella syndrome is manifested in the desire to bring perfect cleanliness. A person suffering from such a disorder is annoyed and upset by everything: a plate not washed immediately after eating, towels hung out of line, or slightly dusty glass on the balcony. Cleanliness and order are introduced until everything is perfect. Unfortunately, even with regular, daily, hours-long cleaning, it is not possible to achieve such a result - you constantly have to wash it again, put it in place and clean it. The life of a perfectionist is spent in an endless struggle with dust and clutter, as well as with people around who refuse to participate in endless cleaning.
• Anxiety – Clutter and dirt are not just disliked, they cause real tension and anxiety. Pathological cleanliness is often explained by an increased level of anxiety and the desire to gain control over the situation at least in this way. Cleanliness in the house turns into a kind of "fetish", and cleaning - a way to cope with feelings of powerlessness and fear.
• Aggressiveness and irritation - in a person suffering from such a phobia, the people around him usually cause a sharp rejection and aggression. This is especially noticeable in family relationships - the "Cinderella" spends countless time and effort on putting things in order, gets tired, and everyone else gradually turns into "enemies" who only litter, dirty everything around and refuse to participate in putting things in order. This provokes endless quarrels, a showdown, and often causes the destruction of a marriage or deterioration in relations between parents and children.
• The amount of time spent - cleaning the house should not take more than 10-20% of free time. If most of your leisure time is spent on putting things in order, then you need to think about changing priorities or about treating psychological addiction.
• Fear of infections or germs - the fear of contracting certain diseases is present in everyone's life, but sometimes the fear of infection turns into an obsession, forcing people to wash their hands several hundred times a day, constantly wear a respirator or treat food with antibiotics.
• Limitation of contacts and social activity - due to the fear of getting infected, unwillingness to receive guests at home or visit someone on their own, people become socially inactive, prefer to spend most of their time at home and not communicate with others. Such behavior and lifestyle leads to aggravation of psychological problems and increases the risk of developing a neurosis or phobia.

Cause

Why there is a mania of order and purity is difficult to say. There are several theories for the development of a phobia of cleanliness:

• Neurosis - anxiety and fear, which have arisen due to a variety of reasons, can find a “way out” for themselves precisely in the desire to clean and clean. Stress, overwork often provoke the development of these pathologies.
• Self-doubt, childhood trauma - the desire to control everything around and self-doubt also often causes the development of purity mania. Especially those who grew up with too authoritarian parents or in conditions of total control suffer from this.
• The subconscious desire to "cleanse" - according to Freud, all our problems come from our subconscious. The desire for purity is explained by the desire to get rid of or be cleansed of any thoughts and actions.

Like any other, purity mania or "Cinderella syndrome" is a pathological condition that requires mandatory treatment. A person's dependence on alcohol, cigarettes or order in the house is equally pathological and can cause great harm to his health and life. Therefore, having noticed symptoms of such a disorder in yourself or your loved ones, you need to seek the help of a specialist as soon as possible and begin to fight the mania of cleanliness.

How to deal with Cinderella Syndrome

If the disease of clean hands has not yet turned into a pronounced pathology, you can try to cope with it yourself. For this you need:

1. Recognizing the problem is quite difficult, especially if the treatment is not for you, but for someone close to you. A calm conversation with links to authoritative sources, a book or a printout of an article from the Internet can help with this, and in the most difficult cases, you can invite a professional psychologist to consult.
2. Draw up a clear action plan - cleaning and putting things in order should in no case disappear from a person's life. But you need to strictly limit your time - make a plan for cleaning and other cleaning activities and strictly follow it. So, every day you should not spend more than 10-20% of your free time on cleanliness. This can be from 2 to 4 hours a day, depending on the amount of work and the number of free hours.
3. Learn to switch - no matter how annoying dirt and scattered things, you need to learn how to switch your attention.

In addition to these simple rules, to cope with the desire for perfect cleanliness will help:

• Sports – any physical activity helps reduce stress and tension. Walking, swimming, yoga, fitness and dancing are especially useful.
• Hobbies - any hobby helps to cope with negative emotions, and also to take time that was previously spent on cleaning.
• Taking sedatives - herbal sedatives help to cope with anxiety and fear, which means they remove the main reason for cleaning.
• Psychotherapy is the most effective method of dealing with phobias. Only by learning to recognize the causes of the development of mental pathology, you can cope with its manifestations.

Everyone is taught from childhood to order and cleanliness. Cleanliness is a sign that a good housewife lives in the house. Ordinary cleaning in the house turns into a manic passion for sterility. Some wash their hands with antibacterial soap almost every 5 minutes and force others to adhere to the same hygiene rules.

Features of the disorder

There must be a golden mean in everything. If the cult of cleanliness reigns in the family, then in the future a person brought up in such conditions may face two problems related to hygiene.

Sloppiness. Having escaped from the place where there was perfect order, a person relaxes and stops monitoring the house, there is no one else to force him to clean his home.

Excessive maintenance of cleanliness in the house. The desire to be clean should not go beyond: if people spend the whole day cleaning, dusting, putting things in their places, this can lead to paranoid deviations. The morbid desire for cleanliness is called the mania of cleanliness and order. This is more of a phobia. They are called:

• mysophobia (fear of dirt);
• germophobia (fear of infection).

The second type of phobia is mostly common. People have a panic fear of infection, they try to avoid contact with others: even after a regular handshake, they try to wash their hands or treat them with an antiseptic as soon as possible.

Washing your hands frequently causes irritation and flaking of the skin, which can lead to eczema or other skin conditions.

Germophobes are usually closed off, against this background they develop other neurological problems.

Causes

Any habit or action does not arise from scratch, there is always a basis that served as an impetus for the development of the problem. The reasons may lie in the following:

• Fear of dirt and germs - ripophobia.
• Stress that occurs for various reasons.
• Housework can distract a person from bad thoughts. Every time there is a problem, he starts cleaning the house.
• Lack of self-esteem. Putting things in order in the house, putting things in their places - all this creates the illusion of control over your life. This happens to those people who, outside the home, do not develop as smoothly as we would like. Such behavior is characteristic of soft and weak-willed people.
• Mental problems - neurosis, obsessive-compulsive disorder, psychosis.
• Heredity. The cause is observed in 60% of people suffering from this disorder.
• Severe illnesses, infections, impaired kidney function - all this leads to intoxication of the body.
• Many women have a mania for cleanliness and order from the considerations that men appreciate such a zeal for cleanliness.
• Heightened self-preservation instinct. Such people see dirt everywhere.
• Disorder of the autonomic nervous system.

Behavior Correction

If you are afraid of germs, you are haunted by a constant desire to clean the house, then use the following methods to combat the phobia:

• If you're worried about getting your hands dirty, touch the doorknob and don't wash your hands afterwards.
• Get into the habit of cleaning your house once a week.
• Take bed linen and throw it on the floor, after a while lay it back, sleep on this linen for a week without washing it.
• Learn relaxation techniques. Find yourself a hobby.
• Psychoanalysis. The goal of the psychotherapist is to identify the traumatic situation and force it out of the patient's life.
• Hypnosuggestive therapy is a combination of hypnosis and suggestion. The patient is put into hypnosis and instilled with the correct behavior patterns.
• Group therapy. In a group format, it is easier for people to cope with their problem, because they are united by the desire to overcome obsessive states collectively.

Therapists treat with obsessive-compulsive disorder techniques.

Conclusion

Most women are sure that cleanliness is the key not only to health, but also to a happy life. But sometimes the desire for cleanliness turns into a "Cinderella syndrome" and can cause the development of real phobias and neuroses. Most often, women aged 25 to 60 suffer from this disorder, less often - young girls and men. Psychologists strongly advise you to avoid starting relationships with people who have perfect order at home, and if you notice such symptoms in yourself, get rid of them as soon as possible. How to determine when accuracy and cleanliness turns into a real obsession that requires treatment by a psychologist?

The desire for cleanliness and order is an excellent quality of character and is persistently instilled in all children without exception. But, if the mania of cleanliness and order begins to interfere with normal life or turns into a major pastime, then it is necessary to understand what a person is trying to “cleanse” so carefully in his life and how to deal with this problem.

It is quite difficult to understand that cleanliness turns into a mania, since this process goes unnoticed and can last for years. By what signs can one distinguish obsession with cleanliness?

• The perfectionist complex - the Cinderella syndrome is manifested in the desire to bring perfect cleanliness. A person suffering from such a disorder is annoyed and upset by everything: a plate not washed immediately after eating, towels hung out of line, or slightly dusty glass on the balcony. Cleanliness and order are introduced until everything is perfect. Unfortunately, even with regular, daily, hours-long cleaning, it is not possible to achieve such a result - you constantly have to wash it again, put it in place and clean it. The life of a perfectionist is spent in an endless struggle with dust and clutter, as well as with people around who refuse to participate in endless cleaning.
• Anxiety – Clutter and dirt are not just disliked, they cause real tension and anxiety. Pathological cleanliness is often explained by an increased level of anxiety and the desire to gain control over the situation at least in this way. Cleanliness in the house turns into a kind of "fetish", and cleaning - a way to cope with feelings of powerlessness and fear.
• Aggressiveness and irritation - in a person suffering from such a phobia, the people around him usually cause a sharp rejection and. This is especially noticeable in family relationships - the "Cinderella" spends countless time and effort on putting things in order, gets tired, and everyone else gradually turns into "enemies" who only litter, dirty everything around and refuse to participate in putting things in order. This provokes endless quarrels, a showdown, and often causes the destruction of a marriage or deterioration in relations between parents and children.
• The amount of time spent - cleaning the house should not take more than 10-20% of free time. If most of your leisure time is spent on putting things in order, then you need to think about changing priorities or about treating psychological addiction.
• Fear of infections or germs - the fear of contracting certain diseases is present in everyone's life, but sometimes the fear of infection turns into an obsession, forcing people to wash their hands several hundred times a day, constantly wear a respirator or treat food with antibiotics.
• Limitation of contacts and social activity - due to the fear of getting infected, unwillingness to receive guests at home or visit someone on their own, people become socially inactive, prefer to spend most of their time at home and not communicate with others. Such behavior and lifestyle leads to aggravation of psychological problems and increases the risk of developing a neurosis or phobia.

Cause

Why there is a mania of order and purity is difficult to say. There are several theories for the development of a phobia of cleanliness:

• Neurosis - anxiety and fear, which have arisen due to a variety of reasons, can find a “way out” for themselves precisely in the desire to clean and clean. Stress, overwork often provoke the development of these pathologies.
• Self-doubt, childhood trauma - the desire to control everything around and self-doubt also often causes the development of purity mania. Especially those who grew up with too authoritarian parents or in conditions of total control suffer from this.
• The subconscious desire to "cleanse" - according to Freud, all our problems come from our subconscious. The desire for purity is explained by the desire to get rid of or be cleansed of any thoughts and actions.

Like any other, purity mania or "Cinderella syndrome" is a pathological condition that requires mandatory treatment. A person's dependence on alcohol, cigarettes or order in the house is equally pathological and can cause great harm to his health and life. Therefore, having noticed symptoms of such a disorder in yourself or your loved ones, you need to seek the help of a specialist as soon as possible and begin to fight the mania of cleanliness.

How to deal with Cinderella Syndrome

If the disease of clean hands has not yet turned into a pronounced pathology, you can try to cope with it yourself. For this you need:

1. Recognizing the problem is quite difficult, especially if the treatment is not for you, but for someone close to you. A calm conversation with links to authoritative sources, a book or a printout of an article from the Internet can help with this, and in the most difficult cases, you can invite a professional psychologist to consult.
2. Draw up a clear action plan - cleaning and putting things in order should in no case disappear from a person's life. But you need to strictly limit your time - make a plan for cleaning and other cleaning activities and strictly follow it. So, every day you should not spend more than 10-20% of your free time on cleanliness. This can be from 2 to 4 hours a day, depending on the amount of work and the number of free hours.
3. Learn to switch - no matter how annoying dirt and scattered things, you need to learn how to switch your attention.

In addition to these simple rules, to cope with the desire for perfect cleanliness will help:

• Sports – any physical activity helps reduce stress and tension. Walking, swimming, yoga, fitness and dancing are especially useful.
• Hobbies - any hobby helps to cope with negative emotions, and also to take time that was previously spent on cleaning.
• Taking sedatives - herbal sedatives help to cope with anxiety and fear, which means they remove the main reason for cleaning.
• Psychotherapy is the most effective method of dealing with phobias. Only by learning to recognize the causes of the development of mental pathology, you can cope with its manifestations.