Autism, and the Cleanliness of Chaos.

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I got into a rather interesting conversation with a friend of mine about how Autistic people find Chaotic things, (Ie: Messes) to be comforting. After much debate, we agreed that it's not the chaotic mess that makes us happy, its the routine of keeping things where we know where they can be located with ease. If the things we put down are in a different location in which we put them, we panic. There is a scene in Mozart & The Whale (which, by the way is an astounding film, if you haven't seen it.. find and rent it..) where Josh Hartnett's character comes home to his house, recently cleaned by his girlfriend. Now I may mention she (played by Radha Mitchell) also has a form of AS, but it doesn't seem to be as pronounced. Maybe thats why she likes the order of a clean location. Hartnett's character freaks because of the cleanliness of his house.

I'm much the same way. Unless I know exactly, and I do mean exactly where I put things, I panic, and I don't know what to do.

Is this a form of OCD? Could AS have a branch of OCDness included?

What are your thoughts? I'm interested in knowing...

It is funny because I have a diagnosis of OCD yet I am not very organized in the traditional sense. But organized clutter might be an acceptable term. Actually on occassion when I have tried to organize things (like papers in some sort of logical filing system) they are lost after that. If they are in a pile or box somewhere without any particular label or logic I CAN find things . I have wondered about whether i have a true OCD or if it is AS so I couldn't really say one way or the other.

I like knowing the exact location of my belongings as well. I sort of depend on my organized chaos. When other people rearrange my system, I tend to get very upset.

I am very untidy.
My bedroom is a tip and my parents are always having a go at me for it.
I however find it comforting to come home to it because at least i know that it probably will be the same as I left it- unlike other elements in my life at the moment...
Hope that aswers your question...
If not I apologize...

I am fairly tidy in terms of cleanliness (used to be anally so). More relaxed these days
although there is a limit to how much i let things get out of control..i think there is definitely an ocd aspect to it. I panic if someone moves something i have put down.

Recently moved out of my parents' house and am having kittens about the idea of how much stuff my mum will throw out now I'm not there to monitor it anymore

Well, some of you should see my room. It's a disorganized mess, but I seem to know where most of my stuff is, so long as I remember previously where I put it down. There are times where the disorganization gets to me, so I make an attempt to try to organize things better, but usually I never go through with it fully.

With me, I have to truly remember and force myself to retain it in order to remember where I put something. I have had a number of times where I couldn't find the littlest things, because I placed them down on impulse. So, I have to place things like my car keys and cellphone in an area that I am truly aware of. It has to be an area that I have gotten used to, because I have problems retaining information on the first try. I seem to forget too easily, but if I study something, I don't forget. It's weird.

- Ray M -

I don't think loving "organized messes" is a universal AS symptom (apparently, such a thing doesn't exist), but while I do enjoy having a tidy room, it does seem to beceom very messy very quickly, and even its "clean" state isn't anywhere near as neat as other rooms I've seen. My clean seems to consist of things in piles where I can find them, and even when it's messy (at that point I literally can't see the floor, save for a few patches cleared so I don't step on anything ) I still know where something is likely to be, and keep things in certain places, only this time on the floor instead of on a shelf or in a pile. I do often forget where I put things outside of my room though, especially my keys and college ID card. The weird thing is, I'm almost certain I always put them down in the exact same place each time, I just can never remember where that one place is.