Article: Compulsive hoarding: profiling personality traits – Got Anxiety?

[Ultralight]

This is informative...

http://www.sierrasun.com/news/19750666-113/compulsive-hoarding-profiling-personality-traits-got-anxiety

[Chicken lady]

"When deciding to keep or discard, the person becomes overly focused on several nonessential details concerning a particular object, such as its beautiful color, unique shape, a special memory associated with the object, etc.
The tendency to focus on too many of the item’s characteristics results in a “creative attentional bias,” making it nearly impossible to objectively judge the true importance of the possession."

I have severe "creative attentional bias". However, I would argue that these traits are PART of the true importance of the posession. Without them, for example, does art have any value?

[Ultralight]

Good question. But if every item has a beautiful color or a unique shape or a special memory attached then how unique or special can the item really be?

Like George Carlin said: "If all kids are special then doesn't that defeat the purpose of being special?"

[Chicken lady]

I don't know. I had an interesting conversation about that with my dd1 she said all her millennial friends are having a hard time now that they are out in the real world because their parents taught them that they were special and now suddenly nobody knows how important they are.

She said thankyou for teaching me "you are unique and special. Just like each of the other billions of snowflakes that blanket the ground. And someday you too will melt and rejoin the water cyle to be replaced in time by some other snowflake that is just as unique and special."

[Ultralight]

I don't recall my parents telling me I was special. haha

Though I am not quite a millennial (I was born in '79).

I have heard that this problem with the millennials is real and wide-reaching. They were told how great and special they are, then they graduate from college or graduate school to find themselves working part-time at Starbucks.

Reality really punches them in the face hard.