Animal hoarding is an obsession that is growing in victims and recognition throughout the world today. The typical animal hoarder has a serious psychological condition called obsessive compulsive disorder. Animal hoarders also may be suffering from different kinds of addictions, delusional disorder, attachment disorder, dementia, and even zoophilia. These people feel they have the responsibility to keep and care for an overabundant amount of animals, thinking that they are helping these creatures. In reality, these pet owners are only putting their animals through abuse and neglect because it is impossible for them to provide the proper care for such a large number of pets. These owners are not only harming their animals with …show more content…
People who specifically hoard animals often have a great love for animals and nature. They believe that by housing as many animals as they can they are helping them live happy and safe lives. Hoarders feel anxious, violated, and angry when others try to help them downsize their collections and need extensive therapy to overcome their hoarding. OCD or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is the unwanted recurrent thoughts, actions, or impulses and repetitive behaviors and actions that a person feels driven to perform (Obsessive Compulsive Anonymous World Services, 1999). People suffering from OCD perform a variation of strange rituals everyday uncontrollably. There are different types of compulsive behavior people with OCD display. For example, hoarders fear that something bad will happen if they throw anything away or give anything away. They compulsively hoard things that they don not need or use. These victims of OCD can become obsessed with not only performing actions, but with keeping objects and possessions. People with hoarding behavior also may be suffering from a variety of other disorders. Many hoarders have problems with anxiety, separation anxiety, and attachment disorder (HelpGuide, 2010). Someone with separation anxiety and attachment disorder feels afraid to be apart from a certain person or object or is fearful of being alone. People with these attachment disorders or other attachment problems have difficulty connecting to others and
Thesis: Hoarding is seen as unhygienic and repulsive, but it is simply a disorder due to either genetics or as a coping mechanism to trauma. While it has been linked to other problems, researchers are still trying to find better treatments for the destructive habit causing emotional, physical, and legal effects.
Hoarding is not currently considered an illness on its own right. Compulsive hoarding has been treated as symptom or subtype of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (Cluttergone).
As hoarding appears in a variety of fashions, the actual items being hoarded are also variable. Items that a normal person may collect out of sport are typically hoarded in excessive amounts, such as stamps or tax records. Commonly hoarded items of compulsive sufferers include excessive amounts of papers or documents, such as brochures, junk mail, newspapers, wrappers, and shopping lists. More often than not, these items are of very little realistic importance (Claiborn). Because hoarding is often either directly or indirectly associated with a person’s inability to let go, items such as food products, clothing, books, craft materials, or even broken items that need to be fixed are commonly stockpiled. In the reality-warped mind of a hoarder, each of these items is of significant value and could be put to future use in some way. Therefore, it is absolutely imperative that the items be saved and never discarded (Claiborn).
B. Compulsive hoarding could be a subtype of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), which is defined as an anxiety disorder characterized by unreasonable thoughts and fears (obsessions) that lead to repetitive behaviors (compulsions).
Obsessive-compulsive disorder, also known as OCD, is an anxiety disorder in which people have unwanted and repeated thoughts, feelings, ideas, sensations, or behaviors that make them feel driven to do something. There are many different forms of OCD such as checking and contamination.. People affected by the many types of OCD have to contend with overcoming them to live a normal life, but they should not have to deal with society’s incorrect stereotypes as well.
vii. Hoarders feel that they love the animals, but they are blind to the fact they are not caring for them responsibly.
Also as a psychologist they want to prevent a relapse of the hoarding behavior. To prevent a relapse they can have clients use a defense mechanism called sublimation; transferring inappropriate behavior with an acceptable behavior. With this defense mechanism clients can find something pleasurable to do instead of compulsive buying. Psychologist can also have their clients keep an organizational plan to remind them. The clients can even think about all the benefits and rewards of not having clutter and available living space.
Researchers have found that animal hoarding is a mental illness equivalent to schizophrenia. It can be characterized by having “more than the typical number of companion animals”, and “obsessive attempts to [ ] maintain a collection of animals in to face of deteriorating conditions” having an “inability to provide even minimal standards of nutrition, sanitation, shelter, and veterinary care with this neglect often resulting in starvation, illness, and death” (Animal) (Castrodale). Animal hoarders also are in “denial of the inability to provide this minimum care and the impact of that failure on the animals, the household, and human occupants of the dwelling” (Animal).
Instead, the DSM-IV-TR listed hoarding as one of the diagnostic criteria for Obsessive–Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD), and a symptom of Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder (OCD). More specifically, the DSM-IV-TR stated that if the hoarding behaviour was excessive, then clinicians should consider a diagnosis of OCD; however, the criterion for OCD fails to mention hoarding symptoms. Consequently, clinicians may have been unsure when a diagnosis of OCD was appropriate, particularly in situations when hoarding occurred without other OCD symptoms (Mataix-Cols et al.,
As children we learn to be wary of the lions, tigers, and bears we see on TV, read about in books, or watch at the zoo. What you may not know is that all three of these exotic animals and hundreds more are kept as pets in America. Private ownership of exotic animals should be banned because these animals are dangerous, diseased, and they belong in the wild. Multiple animal welfare organizations such as the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), The Humane Society, and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) strongly oppose keeping wild animals as pets. This practice harms humans, the animals, and the environment.
Animal hoarding has become a large problem. It has been estimated that there are nine-hundred to two-thousand new cases every year of animal hoarding in the United States, with two-thousand and fifty thousand animals falling victims. Another case of animal abuse is animal hoarding, animal hoarding impacts communities across the United States on a daily basis with approximately three thousand five hundred reported new cases discovered each
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is a mental health disorder in which a person gets entangled in a chain reaction of obsessions and compulsions. Obsessions are repeated thoughts, urges, or mental images that cause anxiety. (“Obsessive-compulsive disorder,” 2013) Compulsions are irresistible urges to behave in a certain way, especially against one 's conscious wishes to combat the obsessions. Common obsessions are contamination, losing control, harm, and perfectionism and are often associated with uncomfortable feelings, such as fear, disgust, and doubt. (Foundation & IOCDF, 2014) Obsessions hinder the person’s daily life as they cannot be controlled, they must be acted upon to even briefly relieve the severe anxiety it causes, and the person can often tell that these thoughts are excessive and unnecessary but can do nothing to stop them. “Compulsions are incredibly repetitive behaviors or thoughts that a person uses with the intention of neutralizing, counteracting, or making their obsessions go away”. (Foundation & IOCDF, 2014) Common compulsions are washing and/or cleaning, double-checking, repeating movements and/or activities, and mentally counting, reviewing, and praying. These compulsions are completely temporary and usually only relieve the anxiety from obsessions momentarily.
While there are many forms of conditions of OCD here are a few. One form of condition OCD has is checking, People who have OCD constantly check themselves to make sure everything is fine because they fear that there might be something they can prevent, For example they might check their memory (checking one’s memory to ‘make sure’ an intrusive thought is just a thought and didn't really happen.) Another form of condition is Intrusive thoughts, intrusive thoughts are obsessive thoughts that are repetitive or disturbing that makes that person often act in an unusual nature. For example, thoughts of causing violence or sexual harm to loved ones. Hoarding is one condition also, it is an obsession where that person has an inability to discard useless or worn out possessions.
In most cases, a hoarder has good intentions. Hoarders want to save animals, but they end up multiplying the animals instead. Michelle Welch writes, “We have learned over the years to let hoarders keep two or three of the animals so they can have the companionship they seek” (Welch, 65). These cases are especially sad because of the emotional component with hoarders and effected animals, and how important it is for individuals with hoarding issues to get the proper psychiatric care. Welch also states, “It is critical that the hoarders get psychiatric treatment. In one particular case, the hoarder was standing barefoot in inches of feces” (Welch, 65). Although it is obvious that hoarders are generally mentally unstable, they, too, should lose their rights to own animals. After all, owning an animal is a big responsibility that some just cannot take on. Pet owning ethics should be primarily be focused on the owner meeting the needs of his or her pet, rather than centered around the emotional health of the owner. While the companionship of an animal could positively impact a person in this situation, the potential neglect and abuse to be suffered by these animals is unacceptable. Animal owners have a responsibility to care for and maintain the overall well-being of their pets.
One reason why animal abuse occurs is because people often receive awards from the mistreating of animals, or it is a way to for them to deal with certain situations that happen in their life. According to an article from the ASPCA, people who watch 2 or more dogs fight receive a great amount of money. Dogs are made to fight each other for the benefit of the people. The people watching the fight either receive money or just do it for entertainment, “It is not unusual to see $20,000-30,000 change hands during a single fight—major dog fight raids have resulted in seizures of more than $500,000.” ("What Is Dog Fighting, and What Can You Do To Stop It?") One of the main reasons for dog fighting is the award for the amount of money they would obtain for a dog. One of the reasons people are involved in dog fighting is because they receive money, more than $20,000 per dog. With dog fighting comes a greed where people want to come out on top and leave with the most amount money. Others may take advantage of animals without even knowing they are hurting the animal, according to Jared Newnam, people with anxiety tend to hoard animals because it is a way to deal with their stress, “Hoarding is part of an anxiety disorder in which people, for a variety of reasons, feel they are incapable of forming lasting relationships with people, so they substitute them.” (Newnam) People who hoard animals try to fill a void by collecting various objects or animals. They can’t make the same