What is it?- How we can help
- Want to know more?
- Five tips to help overcome hoarding
- Personal experiences
What is it?
Two behaviors characterise hoarding: acquiring too many possessions and difficulty getting rid of them when they are no longer useful or needed. When these behaviours lead to enough clutter and disorganisation to disrupt or threaten a person”s health or safety, or they lead to significant distress, then hoarding becomes a “disorder.” A major feature of hoarding is the large amount of disorganised clutter that creates chaos in the home. Such as:
- Rooms can no longer be used as they were intended
- Moving through the home is difficult
- Exits are blocked
What kinds of things do people who hoard typically save?
It may appear that people who hoard save only rubbish or things of no real value. In fact, most people who hoard save almost everything. Often this includes things that have been purchased but never removed from their original wrapper. The most frequently saved items are:
- Clothes
- Newspapers
Other commonly hoarded items include:
- Containers
- Junk mail
- Books
- Craft items
Why do people hoard?
Not wasting things: The most frequent reason for hoarding is to avoid wasting things that might have value. Often people who hoard believe that an object may still be useable or of interest or value to someone. Thinking about whether to discard it leads them to feel guilty about wasting it.
Fear of losing important information: The second most frequent reason for saving is a fear of losing important information. Many hoarders describe themselves as “information addicts” who save newspapers, magazines and brochures. They keep large quantities of newspapers and magazines so that when they have time, they will be able to read and digest all the useful information they imagine to be there. Each newspaper contains a wealth of opportunities. Discarding it means losing those opportunities. For such people, having the information at hand seems crucial, whereas knowing that the information exists on the internet or in a library does little to help them get rid of their often out-of-date papers. Hoarders are often intelligent and curious people for whom the physical presence of information is almost an addiction.
Emotional meaning of objects: A third reason for saving is that the object has an emotional meaning. This takes many forms, including the sentimental association of things with important persons, places, or events, something most people experience, just not to the same degree. Another common form of emotional attachment concerns the incorporation of the item as part of the hoarder”s identity¢â‚¬â€getting rid of it feels like losing part of one”s self.
Characteristics of objects: Finally, some people hoard because they appreciate the way objects look, especially their shape, color, and texture. Many people who hoard describe themselves as artists or craftspeople who save things to further their art. In fact, many are very creative with their hands. Unfortunately, having too many supplies gets in the way of living and the art projects never get done.
Why can”t people who hoard control their urges?
Understanding this requires knowing what happens at the moment the person decides to acquire or save something. For example, they forget that they don”t have the money or space for the item, or that they already have 3 or 4 of the same thing. When faced with the idea of throwing it away, hoarders have different thoughts than most other people. All their thoughts center on what they will lose (e.g., opportunity, information, identity) or how bad they will feel (e.g., distress, guilt) while none of the thoughts focus on the benefits of getting rid of the item. Saving the item, or putting off the decision, allows them to escape this bad experience. In this way people become conditioned to hoard.
Want to know more?
Overcoming OCD has a section that covers compulsive hoarding. This self help book looks at coping strategies for hoarding behaviours, using cognitive behavioural strategies. To purchase this book please click here.
Five tips to help overcome hoarding
Assess Your Needs
Ask yourself, “Do I truly need this item?” You may come up with one hundred different reasons why you need this particular item, but the question you ought to ask yourself is whether you in fact will use it in the present or future. If you haven’t used it for many years, it is very probable that you will never use it again. The best thing for you to do is discard these items in the rubbish bin or sell them in a yard sale. You also don’t need to keep extras of anything; if you have one, you don’t need another.
Be Prepared to Face Your Fears
Overcoming hoarding is not always a simple task. You have to face your fears and stick to your plan of getting treatment to rid yourself of all useless belongings. During this process you may accidentally sell something that was of some worth or value. Just keep in mind that you can always buy a new and possibly better one. Stop worrying that you may discard something valuable, nothing bad will occur if you get rid of some of your belongings.
Stop Allowing Junk to Pile Up
Compulsive hoarding is not overcome in a few hours or few days, it is a continuous process. Once you have removed the existing mess from your abode, you also need to enforce measures to prevent junk from piling up again. Be patient with this dilemma and don’t allow your hoarding to overwhelm you again. Clean and organise your belongings on a consistent basis.
Get Help and Get Treatment
It is possible to overcome compulsive hoarding. Remember to be yourself. However, receiving some kind of treatment from a mental health practitioner who specialises in this sort of behaviour will help you to reach your goal. A psychotherapist specialising in cognitive behavioural therapy can help you to better understand why you accumulate useless things. After a proper diagnosis they will be able to help you get rid of all the clutter in your home, and help you to develop your decision making and relaxation skills. Above all a therapist will be supportive if you encounter any setbacks along the way.
Reach Out to Other People
Loneliness is one of the main factors that causes hoarding to occur, that’s why it is never wise to confine yourself to your home. This will not aid you in overcoming hoarding. If you are not comfortable inviting guests to your house because of the mess, make it a point to visit the homes of your relatives and friends.
These five tips for hoarders will greatly aid you to overcome hoarding, which segregates you from your loved ones. If you know that a loved one is a compulsive hoarder, don’t quarrel with them as this will make them more stubborn in their ways. Instead be prepared to listen to them and converse with them about how this behaviour is preventing them from reaching maximum quality of life.
These tips are originally from Curio Cabinet Stop (www.curiocabinetspot.com/tips-to-overcome-hoarding)
How we can help
Anxiety UK is a user-led charity with more than forty years experience in supporting those living with anxiety. By becoming a member of Anxiety UK, you will have access to a range of benefits, including:
- Access to reduced cost therapy within two weeks of submitting your therapy request
- Access to our helpline (available Monday-Friday, 9:30 am – 5:30 pm) staffed by volunteers with personal experience of anxiety
- Receipt of four issues of Anxious Times, our quarterly members” magazine
- Access to the members only section of our website, featuring regular support surgeries facilitated by anxiety experts
- Access to specialist helplines, including the psychiatric pharmacy helpline and the psychology information helpline
And many, many other benefits that will help you manage your anxiety long term. To become a member of Anxiety UK click here or ring 08444 775 774 today.
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Personal experience
Do you suffer from compulsive hoarding and want to share your experience with other people? Post your personal experience in the comments box below where it will be sent to our moderator for approval. Many people find this part of the site very useful when trying to understand their disorder so your comments really do make a difference. Please note, all comments submitted to the Anxiety UK website may be used by Anxiety UK for (but not limited to) publicity and promotional material.
Anxiety UK would like to thank the International OCD Foundation for the information on this web-page. For the full article please click here.
sending...
Hi Roz,
I just stumbled upon your post.
My mother-in law (61 years) sounds very similar to your father. Like him, she works in mental health. How house is full from floor to ceiling in every room, you cannot move. She will not get rid of anything as she feels everything has a value and can be sold at a boot sale (for pennies) or someone will want it.
We realise that she needs help. My husband has tried but he can’t touch the surface – she definately needs neutral and professional help. Like you, we don’t know which way to turn as we don’t want to effect her employment.
Did you get anywhere at all?
Thank-you,
Sally
Hi Jo
My attention was drawn to this website as I have been a somewhat compulsive collector of vintage electronic gear (and accessories) myself. Items can give me a great deal of pleasure – we can perhaps get away with it as long as we live alone. I also have a long standing interest in mental health issues, you posting seems to raise many questions, and at the risk of upsetting some people I will try to shed some light, and will cite references. Schizophrenia and bipolar might be psychiatric labels but the person diagnosed with both is likely to have genuine emotional difficulties. ‘Sanity, Madness and the Family’ (Laing and Esterson) is an old but powerful book which will upset some – I haven’t read it for many years; what still comes to mind is the idea that one member of a troubled family gets (most) of the psychiatric attention and thereby fulfills some sort of (albeit unhappy) role. ‘Madness Explained’ (Bentall) does just that, and the author is a leading clinical psychologist. You have mentioned paranoia, Jo and it is interesting that some actual theft from your sister might have occurred, ‘Understanding Paranoia’(Chadwick) is concise, user friendly and brilliantly written. On paranoia again, I get the impression that your sister may have privacy issues – privacy is a theme in mental health that extends throughout most (if not all) of life, and indeed antipsychotic medication is, in part supposed to protect a person (living in the family environment) from the effects of intrusiveness. You have mentioned heavy smoking; I have seen a theory that it helps to eliminate medication from the body via an activation of liver enzymes; I honestly don’t know if it has withstood the test of time, but it seems that your sister is hardly able to prioritise a healthy future for herself, and material possessions have taken on a disproportionate value for her.
The idea that medication imposes a toxic brain burden in addition to existing psychological problems, is in my view quite powerful. There are long term and short term health risks, and more subtly, are the intended therapeutic effects necessarlly beneficial; and for the person who is truly benefitting from medication in the here and now -would they have done even better with a different type of intervention at the start of their career as service user ? Of course, abrupt cessation of medication is dangerous, but the aspiration to reduce it gradually only seems a wise one to me ‘Your Drug May Be Your Problem’(Breggin and Cohen); ‘Psychiatric Drugs Explained’, later editions (Healy).
To be optimistic, for each person diagnosed with one of these disorders, there will be others with a similar level of symptomology who will stay away from any diagnosis altogether, and probably far more people with a lower level of pathology, right the way along the continuum to some type of nightmarish or non-existent normality. For the person diagnosed; how much improvement would they need to attain in order to reach the place where they would never have been diagnosed with the disorder in the first place ?
Still optimistic, but using some jargon, good prognosis (for recovery in schizophrenia) has been linked to paranoid type, female sex, maturing years and denial of illness
I have several books to read myself on bipolar – everyone seems to know all about depression these days, and mania can of course be very problematic; it surely wouldn’t hurt to become well aware (but not neurotically pre-occupied ) of one’s moods as they occur, and if they fluctuate rather rapidly, to glance back at the highs and lows of the recent past. Lastly, I find theories that suggest that mania is a defence against depression, an endpoint of it ,or a diversion from another course are worth considering.
The hearing of voices is problematic for some people, but at least we now have the works of Romme at our disposal.
Ideally, your sister might benefit from an expensive therapist; if that isn’t realistic, we can all aspire to read the books that the therapist has read or should be reading. As you yourself have perhaps realised Jo, you might really be in a position to offer your sister very little practical help yourself, except to try to empathise when you are in contact with her. If there’s only time for one book, I recommend ‘Understanding Paranoia’ (Chadwick) and particularly if she has read it herself her mental health might br more rugged than you realise. No-one else can possibly know your sister’s mind as well as she herself. Good luck.