Photo by Liz Macera
Periodically an elderly man or woman is found in a home filled with garbage or a collection of pets. Health professionals use the term “hoarding” to describe this behavior.
The difference between collecting and hoarding is sometimes unclear. In 1996, psychologists Frost and Hartl differentiated compulsive hoarding from collecting by identifying three features: (1) the acquisition of and failure to discard a large number of possessions that appear to be useless or of limited value; (2) maintaining living spaces that are sufficiently cluttered so as to preclude activities for which those spaces were designed; and (3) causing significant distress or functional impairment.
It is often difficult to understand why the person who hoards collects the items he or she does. Items often hoarded include newspapers and magazines, bottles, glass containers, polystyrene take-out containers, food, rubbish from neighbor’s bins, and animals.
While one might be inclined to say that it is an individual’s choice to keep as many possessions as he or she wishes, hoarding can be harmful. Clutter can precipitate falls, a leading cause of serious injury in older adults. It can be a fire hazard or create a physical barrier to a medical response team. Litter contributes to poor sanitary conditions and can promote insect and rodent infestations. Social contacts can be limited because the hoarder is hesitant to invite others into the home. Close personal relationships may be lost if partners or children cannot tolerate the disorder.
A well-meaning family member may want to help out when an elder is in the hospital by cleaning up and discarding the “useless items” in their home. This is likely to create anxiety and perhaps even precipitate depression in the older adult with a hoarding habit. People who hoard often derive comfort from their possessions.
“People of all ages struggle with hoarding behaviors, from pre-teens to the elderly. Older adults are at greater risk of having poor health outcomes as a result because of frailty, disabilities, or chronic health issues they may have,” says Monika Eckfield, a nurse and doctoral student at the University of California in San Francisco who is researching hoarding behavior. She continues, “San Francisco is taking this matter seriously. A city and county wide task force just finished a comprehensive study of hoarding behaviors in San Francisco and has come up with terrific recommendations to improve the support services that are available for these individuals.”
If you hoard or are close with someone who does, you are not alone. The best way to help a loved one who hoards is to be supportive and patient rather than getting frustrated and shaming them. Talking with others who have hoarding behaviors by joining a support group can also be very helpful for many who struggle with hoarding behaviors. The Mental Health Association of San Francisco and Clutterer’s Anonymous offer support groups, Helpful websites are listed below.
Mental Health Association of San Francisco
www.mha-sf.org/programs/ichc.cfm
Clutterer’s Anonymous
sites.google.com/site/clutterersanonymous/Home
San Francisco By Area Internet Guide for Extreme Hoarding Behavior
www.hoarders.org
Help for the adult children of elders who hoard
www.childrenofhoarders.com/bindex.php
Comments
Another helpful website for compulsive hoarding is www.compulsive-hoarding.org. Here you can find a comprehensive resource of the research, diagnosis, treatment and support available for compulsive hoarding along with new views on the illness.
Also featured is the Wade-Bennett life-clutter scale. You can take the test and find out the circumstances and events of life may have lead to belongings getting out of control.
Thanks for the great suggestions.
Thank you for calling attention to this serious problem, that can be life threatening. Clearly it is difficult for anyone who does not suffer from a cluttering problem to understand what it is like to be paralyzed emotionally and unable to let go of things that appear to be trash to others. Thank god there is a 12 step group, Clutterers Anonymous, that helps people to help themselves through fellowship, action and provides tools to let go of things one day at a time. More information at Clutterers Anonymous www (dot) clutterersanonymous (dot) net
Are there any studies concerning if women are more likely to become hoarders than men?
To the question regarding studies on gender-related tendencies--I don't know but I will find out.
This is from Monika Eckfield,MS, RN who is quoted in the article,
"We don't know yet for certain whether hoarding behaviors are more common in women than in men, although women have tended to be represented more often in research studies on the behavior. This could be because women tend to be more willing to participate in behavioral research or more likely to seek treatment and counseling for the behaviors. It could also be that the men are more likely to keep the behaviors a secret. Certainly when we have had the opportunity to study men with these behaviors, the problems associated with and the severity of the hoarding and cluttering behaviors are every bit as problematic and severe as in women."
Lovely, sensitive article.
I guess you are in SF, but your examiner story shows up here in DC (Washington DC > Health > SF Senior Care Examiner).
Locally, the International Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Foundation (IOCDF) Conference comes to town July 16-18. Currently the DSM-IV lists hoarding as a symptom -- but not a diagnostic criterion -- of OCD; recent research has resulted in rumors that 2013's DSM-V will separate "compulsive hoarding" from OCD and create a discrete "Hoarding Disorder."
At the conference I am presenting “DISORDEr, the Play,” the funny and moving tale of Pakrat Patty, the hoarder.
(Would love to send you a press release, but don't see a direct email contact.)
Thanks again,
~~Hilary
“DISORDEr, the Play,”
DisorderThePlay.blogspot.com
Thanks for you comments. My direct email is SFSeniorcare@gmail.com
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