The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many countries around the world to decree radical measures such as lockdown. Spain is one of these countries where quarantine was decreed in mid-March. Fear of contagion and the risk of collapsing the healthcare system led the Government to require the population to stay at home. According to official data, the peak of infections has already passed and new cases have decreased compared to the first weeks. Even so, there are people who take the dangers of the virus very seriously and make efforts to prevent it from entering their homes. Compulsive cleaning is their weapon against Coronavirus. Their problem is that they are actually suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
Obsessive-compulsive disorder is an anxiety disorder that consists of having habitual intrusive thoughts and repetitive behaviors. The person performs them to avoid the discomfort or anxiety that obsessive thoughts cause them. Of the different types of OCD that exist, one of the most common is the one that refers to cleanliness. Lockdown has caused an increase in the obsession with cleanliness in many Spanish households.
Cleanliness as an Obsession
In principle, cleanliness is something positive, especially to prevent diseases. The problem comes when this attitude becomes an obsession, negatively affecting well-being. It is then when we speak of a significant behavioral disorder. Each person may experience different thoughts that lead them to want to clean compulsively. Some people may have superstitious thoughts that cause them anxiety if they do not do things like cleaning to reduce these symptoms. Other people tend to think that everything is contaminated and that if they do not clean they may suffer serious illnesses. On the other hand, there are those who are obsessed with the order of objects and therefore take household cleaning to the extreme.
All these people suffer from repetitive thoughts that cause anxiety and that they try to alleviate with cleaning and hygiene. Their compulsive behavior only serves to calm them momentarily. However, this ends up causing a vicious circle, since the irrational thought reappears again and again after the compulsive activity. Lockdown and the COVID-19 pandemic have only increased this disorder, heightening the obsession with cleanliness to combat the virus.
Symptoms of Cleaning OCD
There are several symptoms that show that a person may be experiencing a compulsive cleaning disorder. The most common are:
- Spends several hours cleaning a single room on a regular basis.
- Has thoughts related to cleaning for most of the day.
- Avoids places considered dirty or not clean enough.
- Feels guilty about leaving the house or engaging in tasks other than tidying and cleaning.
- Pressures their environment to be equally clean and orderly.
On the other hand, personal hygiene is another characteristic element of cleaning OCD. An example of this is that when the person touches a surface they do not consider clean enough, it generates the impulse to clean themselves. This can be counterproductive since excessive cleaning of the body can cause skin damage.
Poisoning Cases
During lockdown, news broke of a considerable number of poisoning cases caused by the improper use of cleaning products. This was one of the items that most increased its sales in supermarkets with the start of quarantine. As we mentioned, because of Coronavirus, many people decided to take measures against the virus by increasing cleaning in their homes. Door handles, doors, and other contact surfaces had to be cleaned well to prevent the virus from entering the house. The main problem that this behavior has caused has been mixing different products, responsible for the increase in poisonings experienced during recent weeks.
According to data from the National Institute of Toxicology (NIT), between March and April there have been approximately 1,600 more calls than usual during lockdown for poisoning cases. As we mentioned, the origin is found in the mixing of products, a problem associated with a quarter of the calls to the NIT information service. A good part of the poisoning cases recorded are due to the combination of bleach with other products, especially ammonia. These are the two products that have caused the most poisonings, and their mixture can be very harmful to health. When these two products are combined, a chemical reaction occurs that releases chloramine, a very toxic gas harmful to health.
Treating Cleaning OCD
This type of disorder usually appears during adolescence or early adulthood. As such, the obsession is related to a personality trait. It is common for the family, with the intention of helping and reducing the person’s anxiety, to comply and keep things clean and orderly. But this ends up becoming submission and, instead of helping the obsessive person, it harms them. The solution to help the person involves making them see that their habit has become an obsession. An obsession that, moreover, enslaves them and those around them.
If the person with this obsessive-compulsive disorder cannot reduce anxiety and stress, the ideal is to seek professional help. Consulting a psychologist can help the patient overcome this habit and thus improve their life and that of those around them. This also applies to all those people who are suffering from any type of addiction and need to regain control over their life. CCAdicciones is a therapeutic and detoxification center that has the best professionals to help people who find themselves in these situations. Learn through our website how we can help you and those who need it.
