Perhaps you clicked on this link because you need help to understand a hoarding person. Maybe you were just keen to learn more about this curious way of life. In a nutshell, hoarders have a different set of drivers. They can’t change these. The best we can usually do is to gently understand them better.
Understanding a Hoarder Starts With Recognition
There is often a fine line between a hoarder and an obsessive collector. The International OCD Foundation describes the outward signs of hoarding condition as follows:
- A large accumulation of items that have no value as we understand them.
- These items clutter the hoarder’s home and obstruct their living space.
- This makes it difficult for the hoarder to use their rooms as we would.
If you need help to understand a hoarding person, your first step might be to accept that they don’t understand your problem. They may be perfectly happy with the way they are.
So You Say Hoarding Is a Form of Collecting?
No, we are not suggesting that, although there are overlaps because both can be a sign of an irresistible compulsion. Hoarders are secretive, disorganised people, whereas collectors display their acquisitions neatly and with pride.
Collectors also know when to stop. Hoarders take every opportunity to keep adding to their collection. You may need help to understand a hoarding person, and support them if their behaviour has overwhelmed their lives.
Hoarded Clutter As Encountered by Avery Associates
Understanding What Drives Hoarding Syndrome
A ‘syndrome’ is an involuntary behaviour or condition that develops beyond the control of a person. Hoarding syndrome usually emerges after turning fifty, although it may start earlier. Those with the syndrome often live alone, and develop the condition after suffering emotional trauma.
This condition is relatively rare, and seldom affects more than 5% of the population. Because hoarders are different, many folk look down on them as ‘weird’. Nothing could be further from the truth! We all need help to understand a hoarding person, although this is often sadly absent.
Is Hoarding Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder?
Obsessive-compulsive disorder is a condition whereby a person experiences uncontrollable and recurring thoughts, engages in repetitive behaviors, or both. Medical scientists once believed that this description explained hoarding. Although nowadays they believe there is more to hoarding than just that.
So What Do Compulsive Hoarders Collect?
Knowing the outward signs of the syndrome may help you understand a hoarding person better. The clutter in a hoarded house may include the following:
- Mail, newspapers, magazines, books, clothing, containers of various kinds.
- However, they may also accumulate animals, garbage, and rotting food.
- Some items may hold value, but they are more than the person could use.
Does It Matter If People Are Compulsive Hoarders?
All obsessions taken to extremes can affect our physical and emotional stability, and of those around us too. Serious clutter can impact on the health, welfare, and safety of a hoarder, and anyone else living in the home. This was one of the reasons we wrote this post, so our readers would understand how serious the condition can be.
However, the problem may not stop there, if the hoarder and anyone staying with them are lessees or living in social housing. They may face court actions leading to eviction. Their family and broader social relationships may disintegrate, leaving them utterly alone in the midst of their decaying hoard.
How to Understand a Hoarder’s Life Journey
People raised in impoverished circumstances may learn that ‘you never throw anything away’, and that ‘everything has a use’. However, recent research tends to discredit this belief, and regard hoarding as a reflection of some past traumatic experience.
One thing has become abundantly clear in the past decade. This being that there is no cure for hoarding as such. Although a psychologist may be able to help moderate the behaviour by helping the person understand themselves better.
How to Help a Hoarder Live With Their Condition
The best solution depends on the particular hoarder. Here are some thoughts to carefully consider before trying to help:
- Gently challenge their thoughts and beliefs about their hoarding behaviour.
- Encourage them to return home without bringing any more useless clutter.
- Suggest they join a support group of people who are similarly affected.
Those interactions may help to understand a hoarding person better. As you build up trust. you may be able to convince them to get rid of their clutter, but never, never try to force the issue.
If your hoarder decides to clear their living space, team with them in an atmosphere of mutual respect. Avery Associates is ready and able to help with the house clearance. Why not give us a call when the time is right?
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