Organize This! Chronic Disorganization - Possible Symptom of a Medical Condition

By Stephanie Calahan (Calahan Solutions, Inc)

"I must be going crazy!" stated "Bob" a few days ago.  His frustration was apparent and he stated he was desperate.  Although he was extremely bright, he just could not get out of the bad habits that he had developed in his office.  After talking with him for a while he told us that he thought he was helpless, but wanted advice from a professional. He is not "going crazy."  We talked for a while and together determined that he met the initial definition of a Chronically Disorganized individual. 

What is Chronic Disorganization

Chronic Disorganization (CD) has three distinct features according to the Institute for Challenging Disorganization.

• the persistence of severe disorganization over a long period of time;
• a daily undermining of one's quality of life by disorganization; and
• a history of failed self-help efforts.

Medical Conditions that Can Impact Your Ability to Organize

There are numerous medical conditions that can contribute to chronic disorganization:

Anxiety Disorder
Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD/ADHD)
Autism & Asperger's Syndrome
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Depression
Dyslexia
Fibromyalgia
Hearing Loss
Hyperlexia
Learning Differences
Manic-Depression / Bi-polar Disease
Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
OCD, OCPD & Hoarding
Personality Disorders
Thyroid Dysfunction
Tramatic Brain Injury (TBI)
Vision Loss

Understand That Your Environment Can Also Impact Your Health

Centers for Disease Control & Prevention state unequivocally that 80% of our medical expenditures are stress related.

Scary huh?!  There are a number of different types of stress and depending on the type you are struggling with, you may have different ways to alleviate the irritant. 

One form of stress is environmental stress.  That is when something in your environment is impacting you physically.  If you have a lot of clutter surrounding you, it is possible that you are impacted and don’t even know it.  Dust (followed by dust mites), mold, parasites and other allergens like to hang out in clutter.  It is harder to do a complete cleaning job when you are moving papers and other things out of your way.  Many people just clean around their piles or give up all together.  Your space could literally be making you sick.

Another form is your everyday emotional stress.  Emotional stress can be caused by lack of organization when you don’t have good systems in place.  Systems allow a person to get a lot done.  When you don’t have good systems, you may find that you are late (to meetings, paying bills, etc.)  If you are constantly feeling rushed, consider how getting better organized could eliminate that feeling and ultimately improve your health.

Take the Quizzes

Do you think that you might be struggling with Chronic Disorganization?  Here are two self-evaluations you can take to learn more:

Are you Chronically Disorganized?

Are you Situationally Disorganized?

Get Support!

If you have been struggling with organization, start by sharing your quiz results with your medical doctor, and then talk with a professional organizer that is trained in chronic disorganization (I recommend specialist, Ellen Hankes CPO-CD).  If you like, your medical professional and your organizer can form a treatment team to help you get to the organized state that you want.

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To your success!

Stephanie is the founder and CEO of Calahan Solutions, Inc. She is a nationally known speaker, media personality, author, publisher, productivity & organization consultant, and business coach. She believes that organizing is about making time and room for what is important to you and that life was meant to be lived. Stephanie lives in Illinois with her husband, 10-year-old son and Havanese puppy. You can find her on Twitter and at Productive and Organized, Daily Productivity Tips, and at Stephanie Calahan.