Money Paranoia: More Than Greed

Photo by Jp Valery on Unsplash

Most of us know someone who pinches pennies. We know someone who maybe keeps the thermostat a teensy bit below comfortable, or who buys only scratchy single-ply toilet paper, even for the guest bathroom.

But there are others who exist on a higher plane, the people who turn the thermostat to near-freezing, who are worried about a fuel shortage, who not only stock single-ply, but remind their families to only use two squares.

There’s a form of Obsessive-Compulsive disorder called “money-paranoia,” and it’s more pervasive than I was ever aware until recently. In fact, I lived with a man who most assuredly deals with this. He has other forms of OCD as well. Although typically we imagine that folks with OCD prefer an orderly, structured life, many people function quite well with plenty of disorder.

There are various forms of compulsion, and in fact all of us have some. Usually we see these as ‘annoyances,’ and they don’t disrupt our daily lives. Compulsions don’t become disorders until they cause a problem. That is, while you might feel compelled to double-check that the kitchen lights are turned off, it is not a disorder until you drive back home from the movies to ensure that the lights are off. Or while you may be inclined to keep the soy sauce packets from your Chinese food takeout rather than tossing them after your food is done, it isn’t…