Some of the treatment options for compulsive hoarding are therapy, medication, support groups, and help from a professional organizer.
Everyone likes having stuff in their home, and many people are probably holding on to items they should have let go of long ago. However, when the items you own start overtaking your spaces, narrowing the pathways in your home where you walk, causing you to trip over them, or falling on you when you pass by, even hurting you physically, that's when it becomes a major issue.
Compulsive hoarding isn't just having too much stuff in your home, not being organized, or having clutter everywhere. It's much more than that.
It's a complex mental health condition that affects a person's safety, quality of life, relationships, and more. According to Mayo Clinic Health System, hoarding disorder affects three to six percent of the population.
What Are Some Causes of Compulsive Hoarding?
There is no single cause of hoarding disorder. Instead, there is a host of contributing factors that can cause hoarding disorder symptoms.
Emotional Attachment to Items
You might think everyone has an emotional attachment to certain items, and that might be true. Everyone has items from childhood or a particular relationship that they are holding on to because it is significant to them in some way.
However, when discarding an item feels like losing a part of oneself, and there is an almost deathly fear of throwing items away, then that can create a hoarding problem.
Trauma or Loss
Sometimes, a traumatic event in a person's life can trigger hoarding behavior. These include:
- The death of a loved one
- Divorce
- Financial hardship
According to NPR.org, the prevalence and severity of hoarding disorder increase with age, with people over 65 affected the most.
Anxiety and Perfectionism
If an individual struggles with decision-making, they might have a hard time deciding whether to throw an item out or not. Thoughts like "I might need this someday" or "What if I regret throwing this away" might result in escalated hoarding.
Family Patterns
Hoarding might also run in families, with children watching the way their parents hoard items and then following the same patterns. It could be a genetic predisposition or an environmental one. Again, more research needs to be done on this before all the answers are revealed.
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What Are the Common Symptoms of Compulsive Hoarding?
Beyond having too much stuff, there are other symptoms of compulsive hoarding. They are:
- Persistent difficulty discarding items, even those with little value
- Excessive acquisition of new items
- Living areas becoming cluttered to the point of dysfunction
- Significant distress or impairment in daily life
- Social isolation due to embarrassment
Unfortunately, compulsive hoarding also creates safety hazards for the members of the family who live with the hoarder. Not only is there an increased fire risk because pathways are blocked, but also structural damage might occur to the home due to the additional weight of all the stored items.
Mold growth, pest infestation, and other unsanitary conditions are also something to worry about with hoarding disorder.
Effective Solutions and Treatment Options
Everyone wants to know how to stop hoarding unnecessary items. There are some solutions to the issue.
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
The best way to get compulsive hoarding help is through therapy. This structured therapy helps individuals examine the thoughts and beliefs that drive hoarding behaviors. Patients learn skills for decision-making, organizing, and gradually discarding items.
The therapist will, over time, help the hoarder get rid of items in a structured way. This kind of exposure therapy can help alleviate some of the symptoms of hoarding. However, it does require long-term care.
Professional Organizers
If the family of a loved one is worried about the hoarder's health and safety, they could hire a professional organizer to go into the house and organize everything, putting things into boxes or storing them in a way that's not hazardous.
This is just a temporary solution, though, since the hoarder will keep on buying unnecessary items and storing them in their house until the cause of their hoarding is discovered and help through therapy is garnered.
Medication
Medication used to treat anxiety and depression can sometimes be used to treat hoarding disorder as well. This doesn't work for everyone who's affected and needs to be tested on a case-by-case basis.
Support Groups
Group therapy and peer support provide encouragement and accountability. Knowing others face similar challenges can reduce shame and promote progress.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is There Anything Family Members Can Do to Help Compulsive Hoarders?
The most important thing that family members can do is deal with the situation with empathy rather than criticism. It isn't easy for the hoarder to throw items out, so making light of the matter isn't going to help.
Ultimatums or forced cleanouts often damage trust and worsen resistance, so avoid those. Seek out help from a mental health professional, as that is the best recourse for hoarders.
When Is It Absolutely Crucial to Seek Help for Hoarding?
If the clutter in someone's home starts interfering with their daily activities, is a major health and safety risk, and/or causes emotional distress, then it's time to seek help. The earlier you can intervene, the better it is for the health of the compulsive hoarder.
It's easy to dismiss hoarding behavior as just a quirk, but that's not it. It's much more than that. It's a psychological symptom of something deeper.
How to Stop Hoarding - It Isn't an Easy Path
Compulsive hoarding is a dangerous illness for those involved, not only due to health and safety hazards, but also due to the emotional and psychological component. Family members need to keep an eye out for the illness in their loved ones, especially as their parents get older.
Getting psychiatric help in the form of CBT is the best way to deal with compulsive hoarding.
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