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I'm posting this question on someone else's behalf:

What is the name for someone who has a compulsive need to categorically document everything they do and everything that happens to them?

The only thing I can think of is "information hoarder" but suggests that any type of information will do, which is not what I'm looking for.

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  • $\begingroup$ what happened to the original question? $\endgroup$
    – icosamuel
    Jan 30, 2014 at 20:34
  • $\begingroup$ OP requested flushing of revision history; creating a new question and merging old answers in is one way to do that. $\endgroup$
    – Jeromy Anglim
    Jan 31, 2014 at 1:13
  • $\begingroup$ i understand. thanks $\endgroup$
    – icosamuel
    Jan 31, 2014 at 1:19
  • $\begingroup$ This made me think of Thierry Guetta (Mr. Brainwash) from Banksy's movie Exit Through The Gift Shop. The whole documentary* is based on his habit from an early age to constantly film everything. You can see here how he has boxes of unlabeled, unwatched tapes. The next scene goes on to speculate that this started as a result of his traumatic childhood. *there is debate on whether the story was real or a hoax by Banksy. See the appropriate section in the Wikipedia link for more info. $\endgroup$
    – Turch
    Feb 5, 2014 at 16:40

3 Answers 3

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Hypergraphia is a behavioral condition characterized by the intense desire to write.

-wikipedia hypergraphia

Its difficult to tell if this is hypergraphia but that is the closest mental illness to which I am aware. If she is just writing in their journal "today I went to the store and met suzy and we went for coffee then I came home and watched tv" it would not be hypergraphia. Hypergraphia would be a compulsion to write large amounts which are rational outlines or nonsense.

There are medications to relieve some of the compulsions to write based on the cause of the hypergraphia.

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  • $\begingroup$ A good idea but I don't think hypergraphia fits as what I'm describing includes taking photos of things, audio recordings of conversations, etc. $\endgroup$
    – mythofechelon
    Jan 1, 2014 at 0:47
  • $\begingroup$ @BenHooper ok if it isn't written then it could be an OCD you'd have to go to shrink to know for certain $\endgroup$
    – user3832
    Jan 1, 2014 at 1:11
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Not sure about compulsive, but I heard of the term "Quantified self" being used for people interested in all kinds of information about themselves.

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  • $\begingroup$ kool interesting term $\endgroup$
    – user3832
    Jan 30, 2014 at 3:23
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This sounds like Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder to me. The diagnostic criteria of the DSM-IV are very similar to what you describe.

I only give this answer because you appear intelligent enough to not trust an anonymous answer on the web, and reflected enough to notice when you need to get professional help. For a reliable diagnosis, see a psychologist or psychiatrist.

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