A hypothesis - what if at least some of the people concerned - the ones doing it intentionally / intuitively / preferentially -
are simply a different cognitive subtype / mindset / mentality ?
Without going into why, when, how, psychological, physiological, nature, nurture..
They are likely to possess a certain set of traits, also pointed out by Frost et al in the book Stuff and elsewhere
( on this point, we concur, minus their presentation of it as a disadvantage, a likely debilitating factor depending on exact degree, a comorbidity or a manifestation of "hoarding" )
Any or all of - these are just "likely" traits
* creative
* artistic
* perceptive
* imaginative
* zero-focused
* introspective
* externalized identity
* externalized cognition
* seeing possibilities
Experts have seen it, only they made it into pathology - but what if it's not ?
So many people displaying specific recurring patterns - cannot be a coincidence, but it doesn't have to be a pathology.
Let's entertain this thought, and its implications.
I am doing that.
I embrace some of these traits, while completely rejecting any pathology framing for myself, and it seems to work out nicely.