Psychologist or Professional Organizer

Date Posted: Apr 08, 2010

You may have heard the story on hoarders recently on NPR’s Morning Edition.  (“For Hoarders, the Mess Begins in the Mind,” http://www.npr.org/templates/player/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=125344573&m=125570036).

Listen and you will likely be struck by the down-to-earth nature of the therapy.  Setting up a personal calendar, making your to-do list, setting priorities:  These are life skills most of us practice every day.  Nothing earthshaking there, except perhaps to realize how serious the consequences are when those skills are lacking.  So serious that in the extreme, clinical interventions may be needed.  

The difference between the extremes and more typical cases, it seems to me, is simply a matter of degree.  That is, you may have refined some of the needed skills, and yet still need to practice them.  Anyone who has worked with me has heard me ask: “Why do you want to keep this?  Why is it important?  What’s most important to you?”

I’m not claiming to be a psychologist, but it does seem that good home organizers take the same approach as the psychologist in this story.  Break the problem down into manageable parts, emphasize choice, empower the client.  Good organizers also understand that it is impossible to have an organized home – let alone an organized life – with a disorganized mind. 

The impulse which most people have when they want to get organized is: buy containers.  But it won’t work, and it can’t work until you think through the problem and identify the why behind it.  Developing the necessary skills and the will to utilize them are essential first steps toward organization.  In extreme cases, those steps may be impossible without a psychologist’s intervention.  For most people, though, a professional home organizer can provide the assistance.  And for a lot less money.