How Trauma Fuels Clutter - Understanding the PTSD Connection

Discover the Hidden Link Between Trauma and Clutter – And How to Break Free. In this video, we explore how PTSD and traumatic events can manifest as disorganization in your personal spaces—whether it’s your home, office, or car.

As a military veteran, I’ve helped many cope with PTSD, and I’m here to share insights into:

How trauma impacts brain function, leading to clutter and stress
The challenges of decluttering while coping with trauma
Practical steps to regain control of your space and mind

🕒 Included in this video:
0:00 Introduction to Trauma and Clutter
0:20 My Experience with PTSD and Clutter
0:36 The Impact of Trauma on the Brain
1:34 How Trauma Leads to Clutter
2:11 The Fear of Creating Voids
2:45 Expert Insights on PTSD and Clutter
3:44 How Trauma Disrupts Organization

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*About Post-Trauma Secrets & Decluttering by DOWell:*
We help people break through their trauma and clutter to enjoy a life without stigma. Learn the art of decluttering your mind and space to heal and reclaim your life.


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#trauma #clutter #decluttering #ptsd #healing #mentalhealth #hoarding #howtodeclutter #clutter

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© Post-Trauma Secrets & Decluttering by DOWell

[gooeyrhubarb]

My room is cluttered with ‘How to de-clutter’ books!

[KenziBabenzi]

I literally feel like I cannot even process any emotions....and sometimes I feel frozen. And when i was young I used to get yelled at for the house being dirty even though it wasn't truly dirty, and I was just a child..so I subconsciously feel like I'm going to get yelled at. It's so hard to even get through a day.

[mirzamay]

Huh. Wow. That makes sense.
I notice that the tendency to hold on to stuff is linked to safety. It's 2 fold.
There is somehow a feeling of mortality, like all that happened in your past is gone and you must hold on to it, because that's all you've got, is this life, these memories, those people and events that you care about. If you let the stuff go that part of you that had those things are gone forever.
It's a trauma response.
And then there's the safety issue of will I need this thing in the future? Resources are limited and if I just throw this old thing away It's an asset, a resource you could use. Most of the time you never use it, but sometimes you do and maybe you feel like it saved your butt.
Because there are plenty of things you don't have and this it that broken thing could have been fixed up and used and now you just don't have what you need.

That's a poverty trauma. Whether that was in your past or now, throwing old or broken things away can trigger that.

[denisesummers]

This is me 3 abuse marriages. Now empty nester and I don’t care about myself. Need to declutter so bad and clean really bad. Don’t really have much friend connection anymore. 2 friends total. This is making sense. Have been to counseling on and off during my life but it hasn’t helped. Nothing seems to help.

[surdogal]

I always suspected there was a connection - good to know for sure .

[adelamoscu]

Such a beautifully clear way of explaining the connection between past trauma and cluttering. Thanks for sharing this perspective! MERCI ! 🌹🙏🏻🕊♥️

[carltonpiercey]

Thank you. You've done helped give me some insight in why I have constant drama and let the cluttering continue, the feeling like everything I do is too hard and too time consuming. An easy 5 minute task goes to 50 minutes and I guess it's the manifestation of my PTSD and anxiety/depression. I have to be at peace in order to have some success at keeping house. If I'm already stressed out then I guess everything does get harder

[aznguy]

This is totally me. I have super anxiety, I can't even drive anymore and if I'm left alone in the store or outside I get panicky. No wonder why I can never declutter after 40 years of trying, if I see empty space like a cleaned room I start to panic, I also get mad and yell at anyone who tries to clean-up my room/space. I've had a lotta trauma since I was a kid and was constantly bullied, I was spanked by teachers, and in more recent times a maniac chased me for miles and deliberately crashed into my car and told the police to arrest me and send me to jail. I was always chased by demonic peoples. Hope to get your book and learn more. Thank you.

[blueridgeocean]

The title explains alot. I used to be extremely clean when i was young, i couldn't stand going to bed before the rooms were clean, and my older siblings rooms just down right terrified me. I could of had a heart attack and no body would of found me because of their mess. And no i didnt have a germ phobia, nor did i have ocd. I was just clean. My escape from the emotional madness at the house was the animals, ive even slept out in the woods while the cattle and horses rested next to me, if the rabbits weren't so close to the house i would have probably stayed there. Anyways my mother wasnt too bad besides being extremely emotional, and always needing me to be beside her. Which gave me 0 room to grow. As the divorce went through my only escape got ripped away from me. My father had partial custody. Took the animals and my "job" with him. Essentially my whole life got ripped away to top it off my best friend and my first GF since preschool moved across the country, being in 5th grade having my dearest friend leave and my mother in shambles trying to remarry a new guy. This man ended up being my stepfather for many many years even through high-school he would unlock mydoor in the morning, every morning to wake me up by making some weird noise (thankgod) unlocking the door and brutally tickle me. He may thought it was funny but i was terrified of this, i hated being touched and dispite my protest he continued, [to this day this bizarre "abuse" affects me and my love life. my partner know better than to touch me in my sleep or while i rest.] Anyways after the divorce and my friend leaving, my life became more and more messy as the days dragged on, and now, i lost all longterm abilities to keep my areas clean and organized

[nathananderson]

This is one of the channels that gave me the courage to start my YouTube channel 10 months ago about self development. Now I have 1, 960 subs and > 2k hours of watch time. I know it’s not comparable with others but I’m still proud I started because I’ve been learning so many lessons that I could haven’t learned without getting started in the 1st place.

[hllnite]

We had trauma after trauma.
Then my youngest son killed himself and the trauma of this sent me into a nonstop spiral of clutter
It’s Jaie’s 10th anniversary in 2024, and I’m only just beginning to get a better grip on life. I have learnt to not beat myself up if I take a step backwards. I look for what has triggered me and work on that trigger instead.
It’s such a long and exhausting process, but slowly I am gaining back some ground

[octavialaprairie]

What a great video and you have such wonderful energy. Totally relate to self care going down. Thank you. 🇨🇦

[bonnacon]

This makes me wonder about connections between PTSD, ADHD and clutter: with ADHD, your mind is too busy scavenging for dopamine to engage with anything as mundane as decluttering. Some people like Gabor Maté would postulate connections between PTSD and ADHD, the former appearing symptomatically as the latter.

[leyy]

Thank you 🥺 i have ptsd I never did service for the country but I did go through a lot from a young age till my late teens and it’s been a rollercoaster, I been trying to keep up on things and I finally figured why I been a clutter bug and it’s because of the trauma over the years & I really believe that if today iI declutter and rearrange my apartment it could help, another thing I do is journaling decluttering my mind each morning helps me function better each day so I am going to have my coffee journal do my therapy zoom groups then get to decluttering. thank you so much! I hope every person who watches this video and sees this comment remember that self care is the greatest super power ❤ I love you & you are worthy 🥺

[Discerning_Viewer]

I "hate" the open floorplan of my house with no hard barrier between kitchen & living room. I can't hang a curtain across or put up a decorative screen because it'll block the kitchen window a/c unit.
I have stuff piled in front of both doors because every time I clear the space, my gut clenches.
It's been live that ever since I had to put my husband's & my little dog to sleep at Christmas 2018 (he died in 2012). I know what's going on, but it turns out I need a hip replacement, so even though I've figured it out, I can't do too much about it. Yet.

[coreypotter]

Trash is piling up in my room it’s been so gross for 2 years now. I try and clean I’ll get a little of it done then lose all effort like it’s so hard to clean my room and idk why I’m a caregiver so I clean for a living so why is it so hard for me to clean my room?

[reynadoerr]

Wow. That’s super interesting esp about the void. Thank you

[theosaka]

So, my executive level functioning and frontal lobe is all Fckd Up then. Great! One more thing to have anxiety about. 😂 😒

[SharonKBM]

Thank you for this clear explanation. It made so much sense to me as to why I struggle with clutter. I have been working my way through some past trauma and I am finding it easier to declutter items I have been holding on to for years, but I still have a very cluttered space that I am having a hard time managing. I have paper everywhere and it is causing me even more stress and anxiety.

[cherilynnfisher]

Highly useful info! Thank you! When I was a child, like countless others, I had this "security blanket". Psychologically, my "blanky" was my most powerful tool against the loneliness, fear, and anxiety I suffered due to chronic neglect. It was also a "stabilizer", of sorts. It gave me something to grab onto, like when you feel "off balance". My home environment was WAY off balance! Kids can sense that, and it is highly traumatic! I felt the same powerful affection for my blanky as one does with a pet. For those of you who know what "Rosebud" means, from the film Citizen Kane, my blanky was my "Rosebud". My blanky is long gone, but I think I crave that powerful "relationship" of affection, friendship, trust, and an unconditional bond that you never want to end! My home is clean and tidy, but I own tons of "stuff" that is actually just "junk", but some of these items are iconic "trophies" from the past that trigger very happy cherished memories! On the other end of the spectrum, are the "minimalists", who keep next to nothing. I often wonder, "How on earth do they fully enjoy any happy memories, when all tactile connections to the past are considered useless junk"?!
I'm no psychologist, but here's my 2¢: "Enjoy as much junk as you can, but keep it clean and highly organized! Have FUN "curating the museum" of your unique life! Remember; wherever we ALL end up someday, we can't take it with us.
King Tut tried! (lol)
It didn't work! All his junk was stolen for museums!